


As the Earth Turns

by egregarious



Series: As the Earth Turns [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Bumbleby - Freeform, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-07 15:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7719703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egregarious/pseuds/egregarious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a continuing of the plot after Vol. 3.  I wanted to get this out there before Vol. 4 comes along and proves all of this wrong.  Anyways, this follows the perspectives of a bunch of different characters, so get ready for a whole lot of plot lines.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. This is Now

# Pyrrha

Pyrrha awoke like a drowning man reaching the surface of the ocean. Consciousness shot through her body violently as she bolted upright, eyes flooded with a harsh light. As her eyes began to adjust she furiously studied her surroundings trying to figure out where she was and what had happened to her. What she saw filled her with both confusion and fear. All the world had been replaced by light. No sun shown above her, no ground below, and even the sky had forfeited its hue. All of it was gone and in its place shown an odd, steely light. Pyrrha desperately tried to come up with some logical explanation for what she was seeing. How could a place like this exist? How did she get here? The last thing Pyrrha remembered happening was- Cinder. It all came rushing back in a jumble of memories. Cinder’s red eyes glowing in the night. Cinder raising her bow, arrow ready to fly. Then that pain in her chest driving everything else out, threatening to overwhelm every other thought and feeling Pyrrha had ever had and then… here?

“Am I dead?” Pyrrha asked hearing her voice fade into the light that surrounded her.

“Well strictly speaking, you are a little dead.” As if Ms. Nikos didn’t already have enough problems already. Now she was getting cryptic replies from an unknown voice that didn’t appear to have a body associated with it. A delightful experience I’m sure.

“Oh sorry I’m over here.” Pyrrha quickly turned to see a familiar face framed with shoulder length brown hair and punctuated with beautiful light brown eyes. The girl reached out her hand and said “I’m Amber, its lovely to meet you.”

If Pyrrha had learned only one thing from her long years of training to be a Huntress it was to expect the unexpected but even this was a bit much. However, when a girl you saw die introduces herself so warmly, it’s only polite to reply in kind. “Hello, I’m Pyrrha and its um, nice to meet you too.” Never let it be said that Pyrrha Nikos was ever anything but cool under pressure. “I don’t suppose you could explain the ‘a little dead’ thing you said earlier?”

Amber frowned slightly and looked away before saying “Well I don’t fully understand it myself so first I’ll start with what I know and then I’ll move on to how I think this all works.”

“I’ve been here ever since that woman with the black hair and red eyes attacked me. I believe you’ve already met her. I’ve started to piece things together from then on so here goes. That woman did something to me to steal my powers as the Fall Maiden. It was intended to kill me, but somehow I didn’t die. Maybe somebody came to rescue me after I lost consciousness? Anyways I woke up here, where I’ve been for quite some time. It’s been a little boring actually.”

Pyrrha remembered hearing all this information from Professor Ozpin, but she never believed she would actually hear it from Amber’s mouth. Pyrrha was also beginning to feel a quiet dread as she knew where this conversation was going; towards a choice, an arrow, and a whole lot of consequences.

“After a while I remembered a conversation I listened in on between Ozpin and Ironwood a few years ago about being able to hold someone in a really fancy life-support system and transferring their aura into someone else. I figured that that was going on with me. It was pretty farfetched but it was more or less plausible so I held onto that idea. Knowing those two, they would want to make sure everything was under their control. By transferring my aura directly, they could choose who the next Fall Maiden would be and hopefully cut my attacker out of the equation entirely. After a really long time in here I finally started to feel something and then the light in here started to turn red. All of a sudden I opened my eyes and I was in a tube and I could feel my aura passing into someone else. Into you.”

At this Pyrrha visibly slumped. She felt guilty about choosing to absorb Amber’s aura, trying to take away her soul and make its power her own. Amber didn’t seem to notice Pyrrha’s distress however.

“Then I felt this terrible pain enter my chest and everything kind of faded to black. But when I opened my eyes again I could see out of a tube window and feel my hands banging on the inside of it, sending the door flying with my semblance. I was in you. Even if it was just a small amount the transfer worked and I was a passenger on the Pyrrha train.”

Pyrrha’s eyes widened with surprise and shock. She had assumed that the transfer was a complete failure, but at this point she was willing to believe anything Amber told her.

“And you pretty much know the rest. You put up a hell of a fight against Cinder. I have to tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her getting smacked around with Ozpin’s office. That was just cool as hell. Also, the thing with the blond guy was just about the most Nicholas Sparks thing I have ever seen. All in all, pretty badass.” Amber ended the sentence with a satisfied head nod and obvious admiration.

“Then you saw Cinder shoot me. Saw her kill me.” Pyrrha said with something like trepidation.

“Yeah. That’s where things get a little more unclear. You see we’re here, where I was while in the coma, not in any kind of afterlife. Which means we’re not dead. For sure. Probably. Maybe. What I’m thinking is that we both have a little bit of the Fall Maiden still in us. It’s not all in Cinder and so long as it stays that way we’re not dead.”

Pyrrha shook her head, “That’s crazy! Ozpin said that the Maidens’ power always just transferred onto the next person when the current one dies. And besides, I’ve never heard of aura doing anything like this,” she said, gesturing to the gray world around her.

Amber paused for a moment and with her eyes downcast and all sense of humor gone from her voice quietly said, “It’s either my crazy theory, or we are well and truly dead. Forever. If I have nothing else, I still have hope. Ozpin taught me that. I want to believe that we’re not dead Pyrrha, because the opposite feels too much like giving up.

Silence ruled for a while then, neither woman looking at the other, too scared of what they might see in the other’s eyes. It was Pyrrha who broke the silence saying, “I think I’m going to need some time to process all this. It’s quite a bit to take in.”

A half-hearted smile appeared on Amber’s face, “Sure, take all the time you need, we seem to have a lot of it here. Anyways, if you need anything just ask.”

Pyrrha nodded before turning away to be alone for a while.

A few hours passed while she tried to come to grips with what was happening to her. Understandably it takes quite a bit of time to fully grasp the idea that one may or may not be dead, may or may not be trapped in a big gray box forever, and may or may not have to survive entirely on hope. I would give you a more precise look into Ms. Nikos’ thoughts but they all kind of revolve around ‘Is this really happening to me?’, ‘Am I really dead?’, ‘What am I supposed to do now?’ and ‘I hope Jaunne made it out okay.’ Respectfully that gets old quite fast. So in the interests of time, I will be moving ahead a little bit.

Pyrrha sighed. It had now been several hours and she was still just as confused as before. None of what was happening made any sense to her. She didn’t really want to just take Amber’s word on everything as fact, but what the former Fall Maiden was saying was the least nonsensical thing about this whole situation. Pyrrha decided that getting-to-grips time was about over and she started towards her companion who had given the warrior the quiet time she had asked for.

As Pyrrha approached Amber looked up and smiled. Ms. Nikos decided to return the smile and with a wave said, “Hello again!” 

“You doing any better? Figured anything out?” Amber asked lightly.

Pyrrha sighed again and sat down next to her new friend, “Not really, but I think talking to someone might help. Also of the two of us you seem to be a little better informed.”

“Ha! I wouldn’t go that far, but I’ll do my best. Ask away.”

After a pause Pyrrha asked, “I guess for starters, how old are you?”

“Fifteen.” Amber said confidently. “And by that shocked look on your face, I’m guessing you thought I was older. Don’t worry I get that a lot.”

“I’m just a little surprised is all. Sorry. How old were you when you became the Fall Maiden anyway?”

Amber looked away and with much less confidence said, “Nine. My mother was the last person to have the Fall Maiden’s powers and well, I don’t think I need to tell you how those powers get transferred.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.” Pyrrha said quietly.

“Don’t worry about it you didn’t know. Besides it was years ago and she passed peacefully. You don’t need to apologize.”

Pyrrha nodded but she still didn’t feel good about it. She hated bringing pain to other people. In the silence that followed Pyrrha began to think of her own mother still in Mistral, probably waiting on her daughter’s return. Kitrina Nikos was an exceptionally kind woman and Pyrrha hated knowing that she might never know what happened to her only daughter.

With the wind now truly gone from both their sails, Amber and Pyrrha sat in unhappy silence in the gray prison that was their new home. Not knowing what the future holds may be alluring to some, but in the harsh light that they sat in, it brought nothing but fear to the two women. Yet hope remained, quiet and unobserved. For even in the deepest dungeon, hope can find a crack to slip in. Hope can climb the highest mountains and cross the widest oceans. Such is its power and its victory. Or, so I’m told anyways.  
 

 

# Ruby

From the moment I first met Ruby Rose I knew that she would one day be something quite special. I think we can all agree that Ruby has always been an exceptional young woman, but watching her grow and become the hero we all so desperately need never fails to put a smile on my face. However, true greatness can only be forged in the fires of hardship and the time has come for Ruby to either become stronger or to be crushed by the weights she carries.

It had been six days since team RNJR had left Ruby’s home in search of the villain, Cinder Fall. After a solemn goodbye to her mother, Ruby and her friends jumped on a ship and sailed from Patch to mainland Vale. Leaving the city behind, they were now bound northeast towards the port city of Nereo. Qrow had said that Cinder had been seen near Mistral’s battle academy, Haven. In order to get there our heroes would have to find a ship that could cross the sea and land on Mistral’s shores. All melodrama aside this was quite a quest and it weighed heavily on Ruby and her friends.

Team RNJR had been mostly silent since leaving Patch, all keenly aware of their missing friends and teammate. Pyrrha’s absence was almost tangible to the four young hunters and although she never talked about it, Ruby saw the death of her robotic friend every night in her dreams. And so with heavy packs and heavier hearts our heroes marched through the wilds of Vale.

Ruby walked next to Jaunne as the winter sun peaked through the dead branches above them. Neither of them had said anything for a while, but their two companions seemed to make up for it.

“I’m just saying we’ve totally seen this tree before. We’re going in circles!”

“Nora, this is the first time we’ve seen this tree and besides we’re on a path, we can’t be going in circles if we’re following a straight line.”

“A path? You call this a path? It’s covered in snow and it curves so much we haven’t gone ten steps in a single direction in days!”

“The path is perfectly clear! It’s flatter than the ground around it and there’s a white, painted marker on a tree every half mile.”

Nora tried her best to remain calm as she said in the slowest most reserved voice she could muster, “Ren. It snowed last night. There is snow everywhere. There is snow on the flat ground. There is snow on the trees where the markers are.”

“Well just because you can’t tell the difference doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t either…”

It seems like that conversation might go on for quite some time. I believe Ms. Rose would agree with me as she kept walking, head on a swivel looking at everything around her. Quite a contrast to Jaunne who seemed quite content with admiring his own shoes. Ruby gave him a little nudge and said “Hey Jaunne are you doing okay? You haven’t really looked up for a while and you’ve almost run into a tree three times in the past hour. Which is two more than usual. Uhhh what I’m trying to say is do you want to talk about anything? We’re all here for you.”

“Thanks Ruby, but I’m fine,” Jaunne said with a sigh. It would seem Mr. Arc’s lying capabilities have actually deteriorated over time. “You know what, it’s getting late why don’t we set up camp here.”

After three hasty positive answers team RNJR picked a spot a little way off the road and began to set up camp for the night. Ruby took out her scythe and set about finding low hanging tree branches she could cut to make a fire later. She would have looked for broken sticks on the ground, but as Ms. Valkyrie had so calmly put it earlier, the ground was covered in several inches of snow. Jaunne pulled out a pot and began to gather snow which would eventually become the water necessary for their first hot meal of the day. Ren began to gather some vegetables from his pack and a rabbit Ruby had killed earlier. Nora’s job was to build the tents which she did with her usual joviality while mumbling “I’m queen of the tent. I’m queen of the tent,” under her breath.

After a thoroughly enjoyed dinner Jaunne volunteered for first watch and the others gratefully snuggled into their tents. The day had been long and the night was cold, but sleep couldn’t seem to find Ruby Rose. She simply stared out into the night waiting for the dreams that would come to bring her back. Back to the tournament and the fight between Pyrrha and Penny.

I have lived a long life and I have known enough loss to understand the pain that carries Ruby through the night. It took several hours for sleep to finally make its way into Ms. Rose’s tent. but the night is long and before the morning came she was once again a spectator to the death of her friend.

Team RNJR rose with the sun and after a cold breakfast they struck camp and continued on their way. Jaunne quickly reverted to his usual moping posture and Ruby could see from the bags under his eyes that he had found no rest after Ren relieved him of his watch sometime during the night. The young girl wished she could say or do something to lift his spirits, but what could she say? No words can bring back a loved one. Believe me, both Ms. Rose and I have tried.

After several cold hours of walking with the only sound being Nora’s occasional complaint about sleeping on a rock causing her to be “sorer than a …really sore thing,” a comment Ren could only reply to with a smile and roll of his eyes, team RNJR came across a rather odd clearing.

While the snow around the clearing was untouched there wasn’t even the hint of a single flake in a ten-foot radius of the center of the clearing. The trees surrounding it also bore scorch marks facing inwards into the heart of circle. It was clear that something had caused a lot of heat in that clearing, but what?

After Jaunne bumped into Nora due to his aforementioned shoe admiring and her sudden stop, the four students slowly moved into the clearing looking for any disturbances.

In the center of the clearing they found a stone, completely untouched by the heat. The stone was gray and of irregular shape not much larger than a clenched fist. The four gathered around it, trying to understand how the rock was connected to the heating of the clearing.

“Is this what melted all the snow?” Ruby said picking it up.

“Wait I can’t see!” said Nora, “Oh come on Ruby you can’t leave me hanging like that!”

“Um there’s some kind of symbol on it? It’s red and kind of glowy? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

There was a sudden whoosh behind the four hunters that was quickly followed by a gravelly voice which remarked, “I’m not surprised, very few people have.”

To say that the four were startled would be an understatement. They practically jumped out of their skin which would have been more entertaining if it wasn’t accompanied by Mr. Arc’s painfully high pitched scream. Still, it was pretty entertaining.

As one they turned around to come face to face with a tall man with a red cape and dark hair whose hand was on a well-practiced route to the flask he kept inside his jacket.

“Uncle Qrow!” Ruby yelled, “It’s so good to see you!”

“You too kiddo. It’s good to see you four haven’t gotten yourselves killed. Yet anyway,” Qrow drawled. He promptly took a swig of his flask as Nora tried to calm Jaunne down from his momentary terror.

“We haven’t seen anyone for days and you just pop out of nowhere?” Jaunne gasped. “There aren’t even any footprints in the snow but ours. How the heck do you just appear like that?”

“Heh, trick of the trade kid, maybe I’ll teach it to you some day.”

“He can turn into a bird and uses that to sneak up on people,” explained Ruby.

Qrow winced and said, “Come on kiddo do you have to tell all my secrets to your friends?” which was followed by quite a bit of unintelligible grumbling from the older man.

“You mentioned something about the rock, do you know what the symbol is?” asked Ren.

Qrow took another swig before answering. “Yeah, I know something about it. That is a semblance symbol. With a little dust and a whole lot of practice some people can actually project their semblance onto a physical object. Don’t ask me how, I’ve never been able to do it, but the technique has been around for centuries. Once it’s on something anyone can use it. I’ve even seen it done once or twice.”

“Wait does that mean you actual know someone who can do that?” asked Ruby.

“Hey, I know everybody a little bit.”

“Yeah you’ve said that before,” said Ruby as Qrow shot her a glare while taking one final drink from his flask. “Anyways do you know anything else about this symbol thing?”

“Yep, you see how the symbol glows just a little bit? That means that the dust used to make this thing is almost used up. If it had never been used before this thing would be burning like a fire.”

“That means that someone’s already used whatever power was put into it,” said Jaunne putting two and two together.

“Congrats Sherlock, you figured it out. The release of power from this thing is also what melted all the snow and scorched those trees. I can also shoot a guess as to what the semblance originally was. I’m not a hundred percent but it looks like maybe some kind of teleportation. It’s a very popular semblance for these kind of things and is a pretty good reason as to why this rock is still here and not in the pocket of whoever used it. Teleportation comes in a lot of flavors, but over the years, some people have really hit the jackpot with it. If someone with a semblance like that figured out how to make one of these they could probably sell it for a small fortune.”

“But who was it, and where did this thing take them?” asked Ruby.

“No clue kiddo. No clue.”

 

   


# Emerald

Emerald looked up at the dark tower above her with a sense of cold dread growing in the pit of her stomach. Scarred battlements and tattered flags loomed over her head as she and her two companions passed through the gateway leading to the inner keep. It was official, Emerald decided, Salem’s castle was even creepier than the first time she had seen it.

Cinder walked ahead with that terrible confidence she always kept about her and Mercury seemed unaffected by the ebony stronghold, hands behind his head clasped in cocky arrogance. Emerald on the other hand, was a completely different story.

“Did we really have to come here?” she asked trying to peer into the shadows that surrounded them.

“Oh please, do a few dark corners and some old walls scare you? What you should really be afraid of is outside the walls,” said the dark haired woman in front.

“That doesn’t really make me feel any better,” Emerald replied.

“It wasn’t meant to,” Cinder said with a smile.

It was always warm in the badlands, but Emerald still felt a chill go through her. A year and a half ago Emerald might have said that Cinder’s devilish half smile excited her, filled her with confidence, but not any longer. Emerald had watched her when Adam and the White Fang unleashed the Grimm on Vale, watched the glee in her eyes as innocent people were ripped apart by monsters. Emerald decided that perhaps she had made a grave mistake in ever working for Cinder Fall. I believe I agree with her.

Once inside the main keep, Emerald’s fears only multiplied as not a soul moved in the dark innards of the castle. The three walked past dozens of locked doors and empty hallways leading to nothing as they moved further towards the heart of the keep. The only noises were Mercury’s occasional yawns and the peculiar sound of Cinder’s glass shoes striking the stone floor.

Eventually they reached their destination, the throne room. Atop a set of stairs stood a figure looking out a tall window to the badlands. As the figure turned towards the three entering the room, Ms. Sustrai was forced to pause and steel herself for the sight before her. She had met Cinder’s employer once before and she wanted to be a little more prepared for the second sighting.

“You’re late,” said Salem as the three companions bowed down at the bottom of the stairs. Emerald barely suppressed a shudder as she could almost feel Salem’s unnatural eyes resting upon her. Every moment she spent in the same room with the older woman felt like an hour she thought, cringing at the base of the stairs.

“Yes, I apologize. There was someone there with an…ability we did not expect. She delayed our departure, but couldn’t stop our plans,” explained Cinder as she rose from her kneeling position.

“No matter, your speed on the journey back more than made up for any losses of time you incurred. I see our feathered friend is proving her worth.”

“Yes, her rocks were most useful, but are you really sure we can trust her?”

In reply Salem gave a small smile and turned her head to the side. Somehow, thought Emerald, she was even scarier smiling than frowning. “We have one of the few things in this world that she wants. So long as it remains with us, she wouldn’t dare to double cross us.”

Cinder shrugged and moved on with her report. “Now that the CCT is down and Vale is in chaos it won’t be long until Mistral and Vacuo blame Ironwood and Atlas for the attack. This peace time we’ve all enjoyed so much will soon be out the window, and your plans can proceed.”

The first few times Emerald had heard the plan she hadn’t believed Cinder would actually go through with it. An attack on an entire kingdom? Starting a war between the other three? How could any sane person actually come up with something like that?

In my opinion Ms. Sustrai should have followed her gut and left Cinder long ago, but unfortunately I can’t be everywhere (and not everyone follows my advice despite its excellent quality if I do say so myself).

“Perfect, now that all of the pieces are in place all we need do is watch and wait. The three of you may stay in my home until the next part of the plan begins. You may go.”

Mercury and Emerald began to stand up, but Cinder stopped them and said to Salem, “there is one more thing.”

“Oh?”

“The Professor was there in the tower. He tried to stop me from gaining the Maiden’s power. We fought, but a part of the ceiling caved in crushing him. I know you wanted him alive.”

A smile slowly spread across Salem’s face as she replied, “don’t worry about that. This is all part of the plan, even what happened to Ozpin. In fact, it’s better that he’s out of the way.”

Cinder frowned, “hmm, whatever you say.”

With that the three bowed one last time and exited the throne room as Salem turned back to the window to malevolently survey her realm. I get the sense she does that a lot don’t you?

“I think that went well,” said Mercury as he slouched out of the room behind Cinder and Emerald.

“Whatever, she creeps me out,” said Emerald.

“Geeze does everything creep you out these days? She’s just one old woman.”

“She has glowing black and red eyes. Does that tell you nothing? Like that is one of the biggest caution signs I’ve ever seen. She’s obviously evil!”

“Well duh, so are we.”

“Now, now children, settle down,” smirked Cinder. “We’re going to be staying here for quite some time and its rude to talk like that about our…host.”

“Fine,” said Emerald throwing up her hands. She might not be able to complain about Salem to Cinder or Mercury but she was definitely going to do her best to avoid the black castle’s master.

I remember the first time I met Salem, so many years ago. It’s quite remarkable how much things can change. Oh don’t worry, you won’t ever catch me monologueing. That was a bit of a close call though.

 

   


# Velvet

Velvet wearily laid back in the chair almost draping herself over it in an effort to find the most comfortable position possible. To her at least she hadn’t gotten a break in weeks, and she planned on enjoying every moment of the time off she did have. Not even an explosion would rouse her from that chair she decided as she closed her eyes and allowing her long ears to droop to either side of her head.

After Cinder’s attack on Vale, everyone went into panic mode with no one in clear control of the situation. One of the Vale council members had been killed and the other two had essentially run for the hills, trying to save themselves. The remaining Atlas forces had all flown home under Ironwood’s orders and with no communication from the outside due to the destruction of the CCT, Vale was alone and scared. While in control of the Atlas warship during the battle, Torchwick had destroyed most of Vale’s airships, making intercontinental travel almost impossible for civilians. With General Ironwood back home, Qrow nowhere to be found, and Beacon’s headmaster dead in the vault of his tower, the burden of leadership fell to one very special Huntress.

Ah Glynda, even with all her faults she will always be the best of us. It was her strength that drove the remaining Grimm from Vale proper and united the local Hunters in sieging Beacon Academy. The Grimm dragon was still frozen in place, but every day more Grimm came pouring in to the campus grounds. Perhaps drawn instinctively to it, or somehow commanded by it I don’t know. I know, I know you probably want me to say that again, but I don’t know what I don’t know. I know I’m supposed to be the all-seeing one here, but I’m not there quite yet.

Velvet groaned as the door opened, not daring to open her eyes in case it was someone there to tell her to get back to the battlefield. It would seem that the power of denial is as strong as ever. Velvet heard a chuckle and the door close quickly followed by a few steps in her direction. She felt a hand on her head gently ruffling her hair and a voice say, “what, didn’t you miss me?”

The Faunus unwillingly opened her eyes to dark sunglasses and a beret. “Hey Coco, didn’t expect to see you back here for a while longer.” Velvet mustered the willpower for one tired smile and asked, “How long do we have? Did they send you here to pick me up?”

“Don’t worry, I’m on break too. We should have a few more minutes before anyone needs us. I’m pretty sure the professionals can handle themselves for a while longer.” Coco limped over to one of the other chairs in the room and slumped heavily into it. She didn’t like to show it in front of others, but Velvet knew that her team leader was just as exhausted as she was.

Many of Beacon’s students and a handful of the foreign teams that were in Vale for the Festival had volunteered to help the professional Huntsmen in surrounding the school and weeding out any Grimm that wandered away from the main packs. More than a few had gotten on a ship to head back home, but for many that option didn’t exist. In all seriousness it saddens me to see these students forced to fight for their home while they are still so young. But hope always remains, and seeing them shoulder their responsibilities and raise a banner for humanity fills me with steady optimism.

“How are Fox and Yatsu doing?” asked Velvet, following a short moment of comfortable silence.

“Fox won’t say anything about it, but the long days are wearing on him. As for the big guy, well it’s hard to keep him down. That wound he got last week is still bothering him. You can see it when he lifts his sword, but the cut itself is clean and on the mend. They could both use more time off, but I don’t have to tell you how much we need every available fighter,” replied Coco without opening her eyes. Or maybe she did, it’s hard to tell with the sunglasses.

“What about you?”

“Oh don’t worry about me. I’m made of sterner stuff than those two, I can hold my own,” CFVY’s leader said with a smile.

This made Velvet turn her head and look at her friend with a worried look, “Coco, you hardly slept at all last night and you still refuse to let me look at that bruise on your side. I don’t think that anyone else knows, but that knock you took to your leg hasn’t fully healed either. You may say you’re unbreakable, but I know better. I’ve seen you without your armor on and you’re just as human as everyone else.”

Coco grinned mischievously at that and replied, “you’ve seen me without a lot of things on Velvet.”

“Coco I’m serious, you need to slow down. You work harder than the rest of us combined, but you don’t need to always be the hero. Let us help you and don’t try to take on more than you can handle. I would much rather have you by my side than for you to be a martyr. So please, promise me you’ll take things easier on yourself.”

After a brief pause the response came, “alright, I promise. You know if I keep making promises like this, I might even see old age. Can you imagine it? Me as some old lady? The one and only Coco Adel telling her grandkids about all her battles. You know, with lots of ‘back in my day’ thrown in.”

Velvet laughed, “You would be the most fashionable grandmother the world has ever seen!”

“You can bet your life on it, kid!” Coco bragged, adjusting her sunglasses.

Suddenly a scroll started ringing, startling both women. “It’s mine,” said Coco, as she fished the ringing device out of her designer jeans. She answered with a quick hello and listened for a moment before saying, “alright we’ll be right there.” Velvet gave her girlfriend a questioning look as Coco hung up and stuffed the device back in her pocket. “That was Goodwitch, she wants both of us back on the line.”

A few shared grimaces later, the two dragged themselves from their suddenly much more comfortable chairs and walked to the door. They, along with all the other Beacon students had been staying at a couple of motels on the edge of town. With the dormitories overrun with Grimm it was a necessity. It took about twenty minutes for Velvet and Coco to make their way up to the line of Hunters surrounding Beacon and find the other two members of their team.

Upon seeing them, Yatsuhashi bowed wearily and Fox offered a smile. “What’s happened, why did Goodwitch call us up here?” asked Coco.

“An Alpha led an attack not far from hear about forty minutes ago. That leaves the old training gym completely undefended. Professor Goodwitch thinks we can take the building easily and move our line up a little closer to the tower. Oobleck and Port will be leading a distraction force on the West end of campus while the main force heads for the gym.”

“Okay, where do we fit into this?” asked Coco.

“Our orders are to join up with team SSSN and hit the back entrance, eventually moving in and heading upstairs to the second floor.”

“Sounds good, but where are Sun and the others?” asked Velvet.

“Right here,” came a voice from behind them. They all turned to see team SSSN readying their weapons behind them. I don’t think their timing could have been more perfect if they planned it ahead of time. I know it sounds like I’m making this up for drama’s sake, but I promise, that’s how it happened. Do you really think I would lie to you?

“We’re ready to go whenever Goodwitch gives the signal,” said Sun, abs glistening in the afternoon light.

“Okay let’s get ready to hit them hard and fast,” said Coco as she hefted her briefcase and cracked her neck.

“Just remember your promise,” Velvet said as she gently placed a hand on Coco’s arm. “If everything starts to get out of hand, don’t try and take them all yourself.”

Coco smiled and winked at her lover, “don’t worry, I’ll remember.”

 

   


# Yang

Let us pause a moment to take measure of the mind of Yang Xiao-Long. How must it feel to have everything you care for taken from you and trampled into the ground by forces wholly beyond your control? How must it feel for one day to believe that the world sings for you and you alone, that the wind whispers your name as it flows gently through the trees, that the sun shines in pride upon seeing your face every morning, only for it all to turn against you? Poetic perhaps, but pain seldom seems beautiful while you are feeling it.

She had always been the fire, strong enough to destroy anything in her path, yet caring and gentle enough to warm her friends, and keep them safe through the night. Throughout her life she has always had the power to do three things, fight, care for the ones she loves, and look forward to tomorrow. The first time she ever felt the terror of powerlessness was when Summer died. After hearing the news her first instinct was to fight. Anger burned in her eyes and her whole body thrummed with adrenaline, but no fight came and she was left alone, the anger eating away at her. Ruby was still too young to understand, but what truly scared Yang, was her father.

It was the first time she had ever seen him cry but the weeks and months to come proved much more difficult. In her own words, she said that Taiyang shut down, that he spent all his waking hours unable to process what had happened, walking room to room in a stupor. He spent days at a time lying in bed and Yang was forced to care for Ruby alone. This is what had truly made her feel powerless. Unable to help her father and dealing with the brunt of the grief of her stepmother’s passing alone left Yang full of fear and a new dread of the way of the world.

But like all things, fear and even powerlessness fades in time. Eventually Taiyang came back to his family and Yang began to come to grips with Summer’s death. But now, years later, Yang was feeling the same fear and powerlessness again. Her right arm was gone. Ruby, Weiss, even Blake had left her. She knew that the enemy was out there, but she couldn’t fight it; not any longer. However, what truly scared her was a creeping dread in the back of her mind.

Ms. Xiao-Long once told me that her greatest motivator was her absolute faith that tomorrow would always be better than today, that her greatest days were still ahead of her, and she couldn’t wait to see them. The fear that now invaded her mind was an overwhelming sensation of finality. Her arm would never grow back. She would never be the fighter she once was. Her team was spread across the world and the chances of them coming back together looked slim at best. Perhaps the end had already come for Yang Xiao-Long. Her story might just be over, her happily ever after come and gone. Tomorrow brought only the promise of the slow grinding of time and the inevitable decay of mortality. How could she possibly keep on living like that?

Painfully it would seem. The first few seconds after Yang woke up were blissful. She had always been a morning person, and feeling the light spilling through her window was one of the best wake up calls she could ever ask for. She sat up in bed and stretched her arms above her head basking in the glow of- wait something was wrong, she had lifted both arms above her head, but she could only sense her left arm. And then it came rushing back all at once, the fear, and loneliness, and terrible emptiness that had replaced her right arm. Those few moments of morning bliss came tumbling back down, replaced by a horrible weight and a burning pain where her arm once was.

Yang didn’t know why she felt it, but it hung around her day after day. Her father said that he had seen it before, one of his friends at Beacon had lost a leg in battle and still felt pain in the space beyond his left thigh long after the limb was gone. He called it a phantom pain. Yang could honestly not care less about what it was called as she was only interested in how to make it stop. As it turned out Taiyang had no idea how to fix it and had simply given his daughter all of the pain medication he had in the house, which was quite a few. They were a necessary part of the life he and his family lived.

Incidentally that was the first thing Yang reached for after waking up. She clumsily moved her hand towards the night stand beside her bed only to knock over the white bottle sitting on top of it. “Fuck!” she groaned. Yang watched the bottle as it rolled across the floor and out of reach and with a prodigious sigh, turned over and curled into a ball.

After shutting her eyes tight once more, she reached out to embrace slumber. Her sleep was restless, full of tossing and turning, but eventually she awoke to the sound of her grumbling stomach. It seems even the worst of melancholy and depression could not defeat the indefatigable stomach of the one and only Yang Xiao-Long. The floor was cold on her feet as she made her way to the kitchen where her father was busily making what appeared to be pecan pie. Taiyang was well known for his culinary skills and the pecans grown in Patch were notoriously excellent. Annnnnd my mouth is watering.

“Oh hey Yang, I didn’t hear you get up. You’re probably pretty hungry as it is like, 1:30 and you haven’t eaten anything today. I’m just going to slide this in the oven and I’ll make us some grilled cheese sandwiches okay?”

Yang mumbled a reply and flopped down in a chair near the kitchen table listlessly looking out a window as she slowly stroked what remained of her right arm. Before she knew it a plate of warm, melty goodness stuffed in between two pieces of lightly toasted bread was placed before her. Instinctively Yang reached forward with her right arm, but as one might imagine, it came up a bit short. She grimaced and switched to her left, slowly eating the sandwich.

Taiyang sat down opposite her trying not to breathe through his nose as his daughter had neither changed her clothes nor showered for several days. He didn’t want to bring any attention to it, he knew his daughter was doing the best she could, but it still wasn’t exactly pleasant. The meal passed in uncomfortable silence until Yang’s quiet voice filled the room. “I’m going out; I’ll be back tomorrow sometime.”

“If that’s what you need. Just be careful out there, okay?”

Yang nodded and left the table, leaving her father and his worry-filled eyes alone. She threw on an extra jacket and laced up her boots before grabbing what would be her dinner from the kitchen and walking out the front door. Taiyang watched his daughter leave in silence. An idea had just wormed its way into his head and with a frown, he walked back to his room to begin a quick search.

Snow crunched under Yang’s boots as she began to follow the trail leading from her house towards the central part of Patch. A crisp wind brought color to her cheeks as it whipped through the lifeless branches around her. About ten minutes from Taiyang’s house, she took a sudden right turn off the path and followed an old game trail which lead deeper into the forest.

Yang let out a deep sigh and kept on walking farther and farther into the snowy forest. She had walked through this forest so many times that she could honestly say she knew it even better than Ember Celica. Over a year had passed since she had been there, but once trained, muscles take much longer than that to forget. Her feet carried her forwards, the wind still whistling shrilly through the trees.

Eventually she found what she had been looking for, a tiny cabin nestled next to a boulder. The door had long since fallen off its hinges and the two front windows had once contained glass panes, but little evidence remained of them. The inside was a mess of rotting timbers and stones fallen from the once sturdy chimney. Ruby was the one who originally found it. She was eleven at the time, and as I understand it, even more fond of cookies than she is now. A terrifying thought I’m sure. Upon seeing the fallen door and ruined walls she squealed out a dare and Yang, to whom not completing a dare was unthinkable, walked inside. The cabin soon became their castle, and many summer nights and winter mornings were spent in and around its decayed premises.

Neither of the girls knew why the cabin was there, so far from any roads and no one they asked could ever remember anyone living in it. Oh but the stories the two sisters made to explain its existence were extraordinary. Perhaps it was built by ghosts who simply wanted privacy from the rest of Patch. Maybe it was built by a _cab_ driver who never moved _in_ to his wooden home. Oh Ms. Xiao-Long you never disappoint. But that was then and this is now.

Games of pretend were long gone, and Yang had no intention of bringing them back alone. Her old throne, a large stone fallen from the chimney and onto the doorstop of the cabin had moved not an inch. After a slow walk over, she sat in it, leaning back against one of the last remaining non-rotten posts of the cabin. It was here that Yang’s mind had brought her, and it would be here that she would try and sort out what she was feeling.

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were gone. They had left her all alone without an arm, forced to figure out what came next without her team, her friends by her side. The halcyon days of team RWBY were gone, in their place was an emptiness that nothing could quite fill. She had tried everything she knew to fill it, but nothing seemed to work. First it was the burning liquid she had stolen from Qrow, then it was her father’s pills, but nothing could fill the hole inside her. Besides, now she was sober, and hadn’t taken a pill in well over twenty-four hours. Everything below her right shoulder was pain, seeming to fill up the limp sleeve of her coat.

Yang understood why Ruby had left. Pyrrha was her friend too, and knowing that she had been murdered filled her with the same anger that now fueled Ruby. She had also seen Jaunne’s face when he told her what had happened. His body was ragged, but it was his eyes that had filled Yang with fear and sorrow. They had that same empty lifelessness that she had seen in her father’s eyes years before. Likewise, she couldn’t blame Weiss for leaving as it most definitely was not her choice. Ms. Schnee had made it very clear to her team that going home to her father was never a choice she would make willingly.

That just left Blake. Just the thought of her partner caused her remaining fist to clench and a dark fire to leap up in her eyes. She had left Yang. That single thought pushed out everything else. Not the cold, nor the pain in what was her arm could command Yang’s attention. She remembered leaping at that red-haired bastard only to feel a sharp cut and the cold of unconsciousness. Waking up was like a nightmare, the hospital room with its overpowering aroma of antiseptic and a terrible nothingness on her right side. Even worse, she was alone. Blake had left her.

But why? Blake was one of the few people to know Raven’s story and Yang’s fear of abandonment. She had bared her soul to her partner and Blake chose to hurt her in the one way that she knew would do the most damage. Yang didn’t know why Blake had left, and she didn’t really want to. Suddenly the anger was gone, and Yang’s eyes returned to their normal color as tears began to fall from her face. She didn’t want to know why Blake had left, because the truth might hurt so much worse. What if Blake hated her? What if she had only been using Yang, and now that her arm and her usefulness were gone, she had moved on? If that truly was why Blake had left, then Yang didn’t want to know. Even not knowing was better than that. That terrible knowledge could destroy her.

Yet even with all the anger and sadness Yang felt towards her partner, she couldn’t bear to hate Blake. Once, a very long time ago, someone dear to me hurt me in every way you can hurt another person. I felt angry, I felt betrayed, and yet I could never hate her. I know that I should and logic demands I do so, yet my feelings still resist. Many years have gone since I last saw her face, and yet I still see her while I sleep. Melodrama aside, I think I can understand Yang’s pain. The road she has been forced to walk is a wicked one indeed.

Night had fallen several hours ago, and the stars wheeled over the abandoned cabin. The cool air filled Yang’s lungs and the stillness that surrounded her seemed to go on forever. She looked up at the moon above her with an expression caught somewhere between wonder and reverence. Its ivory face shown on the abandoned cabin, illuminating it with cool light. Yang stared at it entranced. ‘Every day the sun rises without exception or divergence. You are the sun Yang Xiao-Long, why have you faltered?’ the moon seemed to ask. ‘Bad things have happened, yet you are still alive. Take pride in the fact that your heart still beats and move forward.’

I always liked the moon. It always gives the best advice. And just as the moon promised, the sun did rise the next morning. With it rose Yang. The morning light seemed to fill her up as she made her way back home. Her footsteps were placed with far more surety on the trip home and her head was held high as she walked through the front doors of the house.

“Oh Yang, you’re back! You look…better.”

“I feel better,” Yang said nodding.

“Listen, I know that these past few weeks have been really, really hard, but I think I have something you might like.” Taiyang passed his daughter the dusty book he had been searching for the day before. “I know I don’t talk about your mother very often, but this is important. The book was hers, its poetry. I don’t know anything about poetry, but she really did; used to read from that book all the time. I don’t have any use for it, but she left it here when she… well,” he trailed off as Yang blew some dust of the dark red book and opened the front cover. “If you want it, it’s yours.”

“Thanks dad.” Yang walked to her room taking her coat and shoes off as she went. After haphazardly throwing them onto a chair, she jumped on her bed and took a closer look at the gift. It was most definitely old and very worn, but Raven had taken care of it and the binding held firm. Yang flipped through it, eagerly looking for any information on her mother. Somewhere near the middle was one page that seemed a little more worn than the rest. Perhaps Raven’s favorite? With eager eyes Yang read through the poem.

‘Always so many pleas from a lover!’

After finishing it she leaned back, looking up to the ceiling. There was definitely something about this poem that got to her. She tore her eyes away from the ceiling of her bedroom and dove back into it. She read it through again, and again, and again. It was the last stanza that really got to Yang, there was just something she couldn’t put her finger on, and she read it one last time.

> And, let them smile, secretly,  
>  On reading my sad story…  
>  If I can’t have love, if I can’t have peace,  
>  Give me a bitter glory.
> 
> - _Anna Akhmatova_

“If I can’t have love, if I can’t have peace, give me a bitter glory,” Yang murmured. “Give me a bitter glory…” Those words seemed to pulse through her as suddenly she could feel the heat rising in her once more. The fire in Yang’s soul was lit and her aura activated. ‘I will have my bitter glory’ she thought as tiny flames danced from her fingertips. Not since the attack on Beacon had she felt that fire inside her so intensely. There was no pain anymore, only fury and determination.

After slightly cooling off both metaphorically and literally, she left her room and found her father reading in his room. “Hey dad?”

Taiyang put his book down and looked up at his daughter with a smile, “do you need something?”

“Yeah, um do you mind helping me train?”

Her father’s smile deepened as he saw for the first time since Yang had come home, a light in his daughter’s eyes. “Without a doubt. Grab your boots Yang, I think it’s about time the two of us got back to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked Chapter 1! I'm going to be sticking with this one for a while so be looking forward to new chapters pretty soon. The Game of Thrones style character-switching is really fun to write too so I'm probably going to be using it a lot. I also highly recommend you read the rest of Raven's favorite poem which you can find here: http://americanliterature.com/author/anna-akhmatova/poem/always-so-many-pleas-from-a-lover Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to writing more for this!


	2. Render Unto Caesar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Qrow and Adam join the growing roster of characters whose stories are being told. Ruby and friends have reached the next stop on their journey to Haven and Yang trains with her father.

# Qrow

What is a hero? It’s a simple question, yet one which doesn’t have a simple answer. In fact, I have found that how one answers the question says a lot about them. Do you define a hero by the monuments you see around you, great people standing in defense of a golden city? Does a hero need to sacrifice for others in order to merit the title? Are heroes defined by great deeds, by the lives they save, or by smaller acts of kindness? It is possible to define a hero any number of ways and all are correct. Your answer characterizes your individuality, a trait that never ceases to fill me with wonder. What do you picture when I say the word hero? If I were to ask a hundred people, I don’t doubt that I would receive a hundred unique replies. However, I don’t think that any of them would tell me they pictured a little black bird flying lazily over the trees.

Qrow’s dark wings flapped slowly as he flew, gliding over the barren branches of the forests north of Vale. He planned on reaching the city before dusk, as his terrible night vision would hinder his progress severely after sundown. Luckily, nightfall was still hours away and Qrow could already see the outskirts of the city in the distance. He had made good time after leaving his niece and her friends the day before, and it wouldn’t be long now before he could sit down and rest with a cold drink and a warm fire. What more could a Huntsman ask for?

Tonight was for rest, but tomorrow his duties would once again demand his attention. How had the Grimm managed to penetrate the kingdom’s defenses? Glynda had managed to drive all of the monsters from the city, but had found no glaring breaches in its security. The council, which led Vale’s military forces, was normally in charge of monitoring and maintaining the massive web of perimeter defenses that kept the kingdom safe, but with them gone no one had really known what to do. After a few weeks with no new Grimm spotted within the city, most people assumed that the White Fang had brought them in themselves, found a way to circumvent the security systems. By that logic, the system itself was still intact and without more human or faunus support, the monsters couldn’t get in.

Qrow however, didn’t buy that. There were far too many Grimm for the White Fang to have brought in all by themselves, and the logistics of bringing some of the more massive creatures seemed far beyond the capabilities of a single organization. With no one else caring to investigate, Qrow believed the duty fell to him. As he neared the outer buildings of the city, he began to descend, finally changing back to his human form before dropping about two feet to the ground. He took a quick swig from his flask and stretched. After working through the terrible crick in his neck, Qrow began moving South, towards a small inn he had stayed at before. It was quiet, warm, and served nothing but the strongest liquor. In other words, Qrow’s personal little slice of heaven.

Night was falling as he opened the door of the Dancing Stallion, bell jingling as he walked inside. “Come on in, we’ll still be serving dinner for another hour or two,” a voice called from behind the bar. Qrow quickly surveyed the inn, seeing a young couple eating next to a modest fireplace and a single, old man perched precariously on a bar stool. Just like he remembered it, quiet and warm. The owner of the inn stood up from behind the bar again and called out, “Will you be wanting a room too or will it just be supp- Qrow! it’s so good to see you again!”

“Hey Dio, good to see you too. I see that business is booming.”

“Ah well, you know how things are, anyways come in, find a chair. Do you want something to eat?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Qrow eased into a chair next to a table in the corner of the main room. Rather unfortunately, aches and pains carry over from one form to the next and Qrow was definitely feeling sore from the long flight. I’m sure it must be absolutely _terrible_ to be a shapeshifter. Anyways, one hot meal and an inadvisable number of drinks later, Qrow was ready to get some sleep. Some money was exchanged between the Huntsman and the somewhat overweight Dio before Qrow quietly slipped upstairs to an empty room.

Sleeping as soon as the opportunity arose was a skill the grizzled Huntsman had learned from many long years on missions as a scout and he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. After a dreamless night, he rose before dawn and quickly packed his things. He took a few moments to properly oil the mechanisms on his weapon before securing it to his back. Finally, he looked over Ozpin’s cane. The headmaster had been a dear friend and carrying his cane almost felt like a badge of responsibility. A responsibility to the man he had known and to the people and students he loved. Qrow sighed and took another long drink from his flask. “Here’s one for you Oz.”

The Huntsman walked out the door just as the sun was beginning to rise. This would be a long day and Qrow had many miles to cover before he would rest again. Vale’s primary defense was a massive energy wall, not unlike the one protecting the Vytal Tournament stadium, which stretched all the way around the city. Well manned and maintained gatehouses were placed at regular intervals at the base of the shield’s wall, one of which Qrow had gone through the day before. The wall had been in place for years, and had repelled thousands of Grimm in that time, so why had it failed now?

‘Hmm, if any of the gatehouses were attacked, the alarm would have been raised and we would have had more time to prepare for the attack,’ Qrow thought. ‘And if the Grimm had bashed their way through at one point, then a whole section of the wall would have gone down, and again, we would have known about it. Clever bastards must have figured some way around the wall entirely.’

Qrow took another swig from his canteen, the burning liquid passing smoothly down his throat. ‘Well that just makes my job harder, to un-figure their way around the wall. Did that make sense? Is un-figure a word? Ah whatever, it doesn’t matter anyways.’ After taking a quick look around to make sure no one was watching, the Huntsman disappeared in a flutter of feathers, replaced by a small, black bird.

‘If I was one of my students, I would tell them to work methodically, from one end of the wall to the other, looking for any cracks or disturbances they could see. Might as well walk my talk.’ Qrow flapped his powerful wings and was soon headed Northwest to where Vale’s shield met the ocean. No aquatic Grimm had been spotted during or since the attack, and the vast majority of the creatures that had attacked the city were land-based so logic would dictate that the crack in Vale’s mighty armor was somewhere along the base of the wall. It was a good starting point at least.

Glynda had already checked the length of the wall, but her eyes were far from a fine-toothed comb. Luckily our good friend is quite _eagle-eyed_. Sorry, couldn’t resist that one. Qrow began his search from the sky, looking for any irregularities along the base of the inner perimeter. The wall itself was largely transparent, but if you got close enough, you could detect a slight turquoise shimmer in the air. When it was built, many years ago, the land that it would directly rest upon was cleared of all vegetation, but since then, some bushes and shrubs had crept their way closer to the wall. This small area of shrubbery between the wall and the dense tree line near the city itself was Qrow’s first target.

For the first hour, he spotted nothing out of the ordinary, and he was just about to descend to take a bit of a break, when something caught his eye. There was something shiny on the ground right next to the wall. Now, this may not seem overly strange to you, but to Qrow, who had been looking at dull grass and bushes for an hour, spotted it immediately. ‘There shouldn’t be anything that reflective near the wall,’ he thought. ‘The next shield generator isn’t for another mile, and no one is supposed to get this close to the wall so far from a gatehouse. Might as well check this thing out. Damn, I’m such a stereotype. A bird going after a shiny thing. If Yang heard about this, I wouldn’t hear the end of it for years. And if Ruby heard about, then I would still be hearing about it in my grave.’

As Qrow neared the ground the object became more and more defined. It was a little larger than a fist and had a definite bluish tint. It wasn’t until he landed that the Huntsman fully figured out what the object was. ‘What’s a Dust crystal doing out here?’ he thought as his legs finally touched the ground. These things were usually highly regulated, and one this size wouldn’t have just fallen out of someone’s pocket. “You shouldn’t be here little guy,” Qrow said as he picked up the crystal. As soon as he started to stand upright however, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. The part of the wall nearest the crystal was starting to shimmer in a way the Huntsman had never seen before.

Qrow looked at the crystal, and then back to the wall before slowly moving his hand towards the shimmering area in front of him. As the Dust came closer and closer to the energy shield, the shimmering became stronger and stronger until it finally flickered and went out. With his hand now where the wall should have been, Qrow had created a hole about four feet in diameter in what should have been an impenetrable barrier. ‘So that’s how they did that,’ he thought. ‘With enough Dust they could’ve created a hole in this wall big enough for all the Grimm to come through. The crystal doesn’t appear to be being used up either, so this hole could have been maintained for quite a while. All those Dust robberies over the past eight months must have been for this.’

“Huh. This must have been some plan,” Qrow said, pocketing the crystal. “If they were stealing Dust that far in advance, then they probably already knew what they were going to do back when they attacked Amber, and that was almost a year ago. I also don’t see any more Dust lying around, and we didn’t find any on the White Fang arrested in the attack on Beacon. That means that they probably still have the bulk of it, and could do this again.” Qrow sighed and added a final thought before leaving. “Now that’s a whole lot of shit.”

   


# Velvet

Hospitals at night always seem so surreal to me. Some sections are still filled with the hustle and bustle of saving lives while others are painfully still and quiet. That quiet also reveals other things usually buried during the daytime rush. The distant beeping of machines and the low buzz of fluorescent lights mixes with the ever present smell of antiseptic and floor cleaner. It is not an inherently unpleasant feel, yet like I said, surreal.

Velvet sat with her knees pressed tightly together and her hands clasped. Her eyes were fixed on the white floor in front of her as her ears drooped from exhaustion. The hard, waiting-room chair had been her home for several hours now, and she had moved very little. Occasionally a nurse or doctor would pass by her, but none spoke to the young faunus.

Suddenly the door to the waiting room swung open and someone hurried inside. Velvet looked up to see Professor Goodwitch striding towards her. She was still wearing her battle attire, her skirt and heels having been replaced with more practical slacks and boots. With a worried look on her face she asked, “Sun told me what happened, is she going to be okay?”

“The doctors wouldn’t say much, she’s in surgery right now.” Velvet looked down again as Glynda sat down in the chair next to the her.

“Where’s the rest of your team?” Glynda asked.

“Fox is asleep in the other room, they have a quieter area for night visitors who want to rest, and Yatsu’s at the motel picking up some of our things. I still have blood on my clothes from…the battle.”

Glynda put a hand on Velvet’s shoulder, “I’m sorry, I’m sure Coco will be alright.” Velvet nodded quietly. “If you want to rest I can stay in here and wait for the doctors.”

“No thanks, I’ll be okay. Umm if you don’t mind there’s a vending machine down the hall that has coffee in it.”

“Sure.” Glynda stood up and slipped out the door towards the hallway Velvet had indicated. 

A few seconds after the professor had left the room, another door opened as Yatsuhashi walked in with a bag in each hand. “Any word yet?” he asked from across the room.

“No, she’s till in surgery.”

“Hmm, it’s been hours. By the way, this one’s yours,” he said offering Velvet one of the bags.

“Thanks for that Yatsu. I’m going to go find a bathroom to change. Goodwitch is here too. She’s just down the hall getting me a coffee,” Velvet said standing up.

“Good to know, I’ll talk to her when she comes back,” the big fighter said taking his teammate’s place in the uncomfortable chair.

Velvet made her way down the quiet hallway trying to find a restroom. Eventually she found one and walked in as the automatic lights buzzed to life. She opened the bag Yatsuhashi had given to her and found some of her clothes she had stashed in the motel room she shared with Coco. She quickly climbed out of her bloody battle attire and slipped into a baggy hoodie and jeans. After stuffing her old clothes in the bag she walked out of the restroom and straight into a vaguely familiar man with dark hair and a scruffy jaw.

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t see you there,” she said, picking up the bag she had dropped in the collision.

“Don’t worry about it,” the man muttered. He began to turn away before he spun back around to face Velvet. “Wait, I’ve seen you before, you’re a student at Beacon right?” Velvet nodded. “I’m looking for Glynda Goodwitch, some blond kid who doesn’t know how to button up a shirt told me she was around here somewhere.”

“Yeah, she should be in the waiting room just up the hall.”

“Thanks,” said the strange man before hurrying ahead of Velvet and into the main waiting room.

Velvet sighed and began walking in the same direction as her eyes began to droop. She hadn’t slept since the break she had taken with Coco before the battle and it was well past midnight now. Watching her lover brutally thrown across the room and slashed by a Griffon had shaken the Faunus to her very core. And the worst part was that the Griffon’s strike was meant for her. Velvet had allowed a moment of carelessness and the creature had gotten behind her. At the last moment Coco had pushed her out of the way, taking the brunt of the attack herself.

‘She promised me she wouldn’t try to be a hero. Why would she do that?’ Velvet thought as tears began to form in her eyes. Suddenly she could hear raised voices in the waiting room and she hurried in to find out what was going on.

“You’ve been gone for weeks! Why have you come back now?” Glynda yelled at the dark-haired man from earlier. “Just when we needed you the most you just, what? flew out of here? Ozpin is dead and you just left! How could you do that Qrow?”

“I had other things I needed to attend to, besides you were doing just fine on your own.” Qrow reached into his jacket and took a drink from his flask which earned him a glare from a passing nurse. Velvet quietly made her way into the room and sat next to Yatsuhashi. While I’m not saying I would condone Glynda and Qrow fighting, I do admit I wouldn’t fault anyone for being entertained by it.

Glynda threw up her hands, “You had other things to attend to. Really? If whatever you’ve been doing is so important, then why are you here now?”

“Because I found out how the bastards that attacked us got the Grimm into the city.” At Glynda’s shocked look Qrow reached into his pocket and produced the blue crystal which he tossed to the Huntress.

“A Dust crystal? What does that have anything to do with the Grimm?”

“Not the Grimm, the wall. I found this guy near the base of it, someone must have left it behind. Anyways, you just hold it up to the wall and poof, you get a hole in the energy shield. With enough Dust you could open up a huge gap in it for Grimm to get through.”

“That must have been what all those Dust robberies over the past year have been for, to get past our defenses!”

“Exactly. Chances are they still have the lion’s share of the Dust they used too, which means they could use the same method again.”

“We’ll have to figure out some way to update the wall then, so that Dust can’t cripple it. Otherwise we’re completely vulnerable to a second attack,” Glynda said, handing Qrow the crystal back. “By the way, how is Taiyang doing, we could really use his help at the school.”

“Last time I saw him he was taking care of his daughter. You know how bad she got hit during the attack and I think it’s actually gotten worse since then.”

“Right, well I guess you’re going to be leaving us again.”

“You know me so well,” said Qrow with a smile while Glynda scowled. “Anyways, good luck, it looks like you might need it.” And with a swish of his cape, the Huntsman walked out the door. I don’t think he would ever admit it, but I believe Qrow has a pronounced love of dramatic entrances and exits which no one truly appreciates.

After a moment of quiet thought Glynda came back to her senses and turned to Velvet. “Oh, Ms. Scarletina, I almost didn’t see you come in. Here’s the coffee you asked for.”

“Thanks professor, I really appreciate it. Um Professor Goodwitch, I’m really grateful that you’re here, but you can go if you need to. I won’t hold it against you. Besides it’s like three in the morning and I’m sure you have things to do in a few hours.”

“Are you sure? I can stay if you want me to.”

“No, it’s alright, I think we can manage for a while here on our own,” Velvet said, gesturing at Yatsuhashi who nodded.

“Well, if you say so. I do have a radio broadcast to send out in the morning. Let me know how Coco is when you hear anything.” After a quiet nod from Velvet, Glynda walked out of the room to no doubt get some much needed and deserved rest. Once she had gone Velvet turned to Yatsuhashi and said, “If you want to go and sleep too it’s okay, and don’t say you’re not tired, I know you are.”

“As much as I’d like to argue with you, I think you’re right. I’ll be in the other room if you need anything or want us to come out so you can take a turn sleeping.”

“Sure, though I don’t think I could sleep a wink. I have this knot in my stomach that’s eating away at me. It’s terrible not knowing how she’s doing.”

Yatsuhashi placed a hand on Velvet’s shoulder, “I’m sure she’ll be alright, she’s much tougher than the rest of us.”

“I know; I just can’t seem to stop worrying about her.”

The big Huntsman gave the Faunus a sad smile before dropping the second bag he brought on the floor and leaving her alone, making his way to the quiet room with Fox. Velvet sat and resumed her worry-induced stare at the floor in front of her. ‘How could this have happened to Coco?’ she thought. ‘None of this was supposed to happen.’

   


# Adam

“I want all of the remaining Atlas mechs loaded up now! This should have been done days ago!”

“Y-yes sir! I’ll get right on it Sir!” With a wave of his hand Adam dismissed the grunt who nervously ran from the tent. Adam returned to his usual place at the table in the center of the room, hands resting heavily on either side of a map of Remnant.

Viper leaned against a post in the corner, coolly surveying his commander. “Will we really be ready to move out by tomorrow morning?”

“We had better be,” Adam replied without looking up. “Those damn mechs are the last of the big equipment that needs to be loaded. After that we only have a few more crates of Dust and some food left. We can definitely get all that in the ships during the night and by morning we’ll be gone.”

“Whatever you say.” Viper made a noncommittal shrug towards Adam and reached down to pick up his weapon, an elongated chainsaw. “Do you mind if I clean this in here? The engine was making a bad sound the other day.”

Adam waved again and Viper hoisted the massive weapon he had used to fight Team RWBY during the Mountain Glen attack onto a side table near him. Pulling out some oil and a brush he quickly set to work cleaning the mechanisms inside the weapon. After a few minutes of silence Viper stopped his work for a moment and asked, “So why are we leaving Vale anyways? They’re at their weakest right now and we’ve spent the better part of a year here anyways. Our revolution could move forward with almost no opposition.”

The red-haired faunus sighed. “You’re not seeing the big picture. Vale was never our intended target. It was merely a way to show others our power. It was our men that broke through Vale’s defenses and attacked the city itself. The other kingdoms know what we can do now, and soon, they’ll fear us more than Vale ever did. Besides, the Faunus population here is too low, even if we did manage to seize power, we’d never be able to hold on to it.”

Viper returned to his work on the chainsaw, “alright, I’m beginning to see your point. But for the sake of your argument, keep going. Why Vacuo?”

At this Adam’s face was split with a grin. “Vacuo is ripe to fall. There’s a huge population of faunus there, but they have no control over their own government. The Vacuan Senate is entirely human. The country may tout itself as a Republic, but it only represents a fraction of its people.”

“Okay, but the Fang doesn’t have much influence in Vacuo. We’ve only recently been getting recruits there and most people still consider us terrorists.”

“That’s going to be the biggest job there, I’ll admit, but we still have one very important card to play; Sande.”

This gave Viper pause and he looked up from his cleaning. “What does he have to do with any of this?”

“As the headmaster of Vacuo’s battle academy he has quite a bit of sway with both the government and the populace. There’s no standing army in Vacuo either which means he commands the largest group of trained fighters in the kingdom. All of that makes him the most influential Faunus in in the country. If we manage to get him on our side, then public opinion will sway towards us overnight.”

“There’s only one problem, how are you going to convince him to support us?”

Adam gave another grin as he slowly replied, “I think we both know that I can be very persuasive.”

Viper laughed, and agreed. He had seen some of the things his boss had done and knew exactly how quickly a…detractor could be made into an ally. Adam’s methods were as evil as they were effective. Even I can’t argue that point.  
Once Viper was completely satisfied with the workings of his chainsaw he made a clumsy salute towards Adam and left the commander’s tent. It was well past midnight when Adam finally went to bed. He didn’t sleep much anymore, often going days without even a single wink. You may question Mr. Taurus’ morals, but you can never decry his determination. That’s what had gotten him so high up within the White Fang at such a young age.

He had become an elect, the highest rank of fighter within the Fang, when he was only sixteen. Adam could still remember the pride he felt when he showed Blake the three pronged scar on his back which marked him as a chosen member of their organization. As the term implies, becoming an elect meant not only being a powerful warrior, but also a popular member of their company. Every single one of Adam’s comrades had chosen him to take on the title. Adam was once an impressive leader who inspired his subordinates to great actions, but not any longer.

Everything had changed for the young Faunus when Gonyama took over the Fang. It was his leadership that pushed the organization towards increasing militarization. He was the one that led the first strikes against the Schnee Dust Company. And he was the one who Adam idolized. Soon after Mr. Taurus became an elect, he had met the fiery leader. He could still remember the words Gonyama had spoken to him. “There was once a mighty ruler named Caesar,” he had rumbled, “and he said that he feared not the well-fed. He feared the hungry and those filled with want. We are starved, Adam Taurus, starved for freedom and the power to determine our own destinies. We are filled with want for a better world, and our enemies will fear us. You are a part of this, boy, and you will strike terror into those humans that oppose us.”

What a charmer. People like that always make me wonder how they were as kids. Like did he say ‘I will strike fear into all those who want to share the sandbox’ when he was seven? Either way, it definitely had an effect on Adam. The more raids he led the more he began to believe that violence was the answer to the question he had been asking all his life. ‘How can I change the world?’ With every attack his lust for battle grew and even those closest to him could see a difference.

Running away was Ms. Belladonna’s final resort. She had tried to change her partner, back to how he used to be, but all her efforts paled in comparison to a single word of praise from Gonyama. Eventually Adam began to see Blake’s efforts as counter to the White Fang’s goals and particularly towards him. And, like with everything else at the time, Adam chose to use violence. When Blake became an elect the three slashes that served as a badge of honor were far from the only scars on her body; many of which were given to her by Adam in some fit of anger. I have lived long enough to be wary of anyone who speaks of absolute good and absolute evil, but hurting someone who cares about you like that is unforgivable.

Just like he had said to Viper the night before, the White Fang’s small armada of air-ships were loaded and ready by the time dawn came. Adam was giving out his final instructions to the few men who would stay behind in Vale when the sun’s first rays could be seen over the horizon. These men would be led by a new elect, promoted for her actions during the battle at Beacon.

“You’ve been with the Fang long enough to know how our operations work, so I won’t go over the details. Continue some small operations in the area, especially with our propaganda team. If you hear of any big Schnee Company shipments hit it with a small force. Don’t waste your men on a big attack.” Adam began to turn away before remembering something and spinning back around. “And Anais, if you see the traitor, Blake, don’t engage her, just let me know. I doubt she’s still in Vale, but she’s worth keeping an eye out for. Also, you have a description of the blonde bitch she was with. I want to be the one to end her, but if she forces a fight, don’t let her live. That’ll be all.”

The diminutive Faunus nodded and saluted as Adam walked back towards the air-ships. As Adam turned away she let out a silent grin and blinked. For just a moment her green eyes changed, one brown and the other a light pink. Then she blinked again and just as suddenly her eyes returned to their original color. A few moments later Mr. Taurus was climbing aboard the largest transport and sitting next to Viper. “You think the little one will be okay here by herself?”

“She’s an elect,” Adam responded, “she has the support of her men and the experience to know how our operations work. Unless something goes spectacularly wrong, we don’t need to worry.”

It’s a twelve-hour air-ship ride across the continent from central Vale to the capital city of Vacuo. In that time Adam and Viper went over their plan on converting their target, Sande Ajag, the headmaster of Shade. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the man several times and all I’ll say is that Adam had his work come out for him. Sande is as stubborn as a mule and several times as hearty. He would never succumb easily. However, Adam wasn’t wrong in his reasoning that Sande’s support could turn the country in the White Fang’s direction. The headmasters of the four battle academies command respect and admiration from the people of Remnant. If Sande was to fall in line with the White Fang, then actions could be put in motion that could truly change our world.

 

# Yang

Taiyang’s left fist collided with his daughter’s face at furious speed. This slammed her to the ground, getting a good mouthful of the late-winter snow. Yang could taste blood as she looked up at her father.

“Your right side’s vulnerable now Yang. You need to learn to either block differently or dodge faster. It’s been a while since our last break though. How about we go inside and get some water?”

“No. Again,” she growled through clenched teeth. ‘I will have my bitter glory,’ she thought, ‘and nothing is going to take it from me.’

“Are you sure about that, we can totally take a break.” This was met with a steely glare. “You’re sure. Of course you are. Why did I even ask?” Despite Taiyang’s griping, he was loving every minute of this. Seeing his daughter with determination in her eyes again was a wonderful feeling.

Yang slowly climbed to her feet and raised her left hand in a fist, ready to fight. Her father’s eyes met hers for a moment and then the fight was on. Taiyang’s right leg rocketed forward to be met with his daughter’s arm. He quickly switched tactics, pivoting with his left foot and kicking at a higher angle. Again, Yang blocked with ease. Having failed so far, Taiyang switched to his fists, sending dozens of quick strikes towards his opponent’s face. Yang jumped backwards, lowered her shoulder, and dove towards her father’s midsection, deftly avoiding his higher-placed strikes. She met only empty air as the older Huntsman sidestepped like a matador avoiding a charging bull.

“Ha! You’ll have to be faster than that!” he shouted out while Yang gritted her teeth. She ducked under a right jab and threw an uppercut towards the space her father’s head resided in a moment before. The uppercut however was only a feint as she used the opportunity to spin around, launching a kick towards where Taiyang had dodged to. He caught the kick with both hands and by twisting his arms, sent Yang spinning in midair. She managed to land squarely on her feet and leapt backwards, avoiding a follow-up strike from Taiyang’s fist.

The fighters circled each other, both looking for a weak point in the other’s defense. By this point both combatants were panting heavily and their warm jackets were thoroughly soaked with sweat. This match was the last of many, Yang having failed again and again to beat her father. Even before the sparring had begun, the two had spent hours working out and practicing maneuvers, trying to acquaint Yang with her new limitations. As much as she understood the loss of her arm on a cognitive level, in the heat of battle she often instinctively tried to use it to block or attack. Muscle memory it seems, is a hard thing to forget.

Yang gritted her teeth again; she refused to slow down or take a break until she could learn to avoid attacks to her right side and land a solid hit on her father. After hours of training her limbs felt like lead, dragged down by exhaustion. Every muscle in her body screamed in protest, but Ms. Xiao-Long is made of tougher stuff than that. She ghosted forward, feinting with her arm before sending a lightning-fast kick towards Taiyang’s leg. He deftly moved it back, giving Yang the opening she wanted. She spun around and with all the power she could muster, sent her right leg spinning with her and towards her father’s face. Taiyang threw up both arms, stopping the blow. This was what Yang had hoped for. By blocking with both hands, her father had severely limited his vision which gave her the opportunity she needed to slam her foot down and bring her fist forward. By the time Taiyang had dropped his arms, his daughter’s fist was already rocketing towards his face.

It was not to be however, as the older Huntsman’s finely-honed instincts kicked in, bringing his head back and safely out of danger. Yang’s fist crashed by him, mere millimeters from his jaw. “You want to give me a shave Yang?” he asked with a laugh. It would seem that his reputation as one of the finest graduates of Beacon Academy was well-founded.

He quickly returned fire with more fists and graceful footwork, leaving Yang furiously blocking and dodging, using every trick she knew to avoid her father’s strikes. A well-placed kick to the stomach sent her reeling backwards, doubled over from lack of air. ‘I will have my bitter glory,’ she thought as her eyes blazed to life. She stood up, squared her shoulders and advanced on her father, slightly bending her knees, ready for the first strike. Taiyang grinned and sent another dizzying volley of strikes towards his daughter. Yang was prepared this time however, and quickly sidestepped sending her fist rushing towards the older Huntsman’s exposed side. Taiyang was forced to block awkwardly, leaving him out of position. Ms. Xiao-Long jumped on the opportunity and sent a powerful kick towards her father’s right side. He leapt backwards, but quickly rushed back in, pulling his left arm back for a strike.

There it was. The left hook her father had gotten her with the previous match. The same left hook that had knocked her down time and time again. What remained of her right arm twitched instinctively, before Yang’s upper body began to move. Almost as if in slow motion, Yang ducked below the punch and with all of the strength her body could muster, she sent her left fist thundering directly into the older Huntsman’s sternum.

Taiyang stumbled backwards from the force of the blow and looked at his daughter in shock before a smile worked its way to his face. Then from somewhere deep within him a laugh started, slowly building in intensity as it filled the training space behind his home. “Fantastic Yang! That was something else. Well done!”

Yang smiled, ‘I will have my bitter glory’. It had been years since her father had first taught her how to fight, and she would never truly be in the fighting shape she had been in all those years ago, but for a moment, she felt that same exhilaration that had made her want to become a Huntress in the first place. “Sorry, but you could only keep up that untouchable routine for _Xiao_ -Long.”

“I think your puns may need some work too,” Taiyang replied shaking his head. Despite the words coming out of his mouth, the older Huntsman’s lips were still curved into a smile. He was always proud of his daughters, but watching Yang beginning to overcome the loss of her arm merited something special. “Come on inside, I think you’ve earned that break now.”

Yang flopped down in a chair inside while Taiyang raided the refrigerator for some bottles of water. He tossed one to his daughter and sat in a chair opposite her. They had both shed their coats upon entering the house and were now acutely aware of how sweaty they had become. “You want the shower first, or should I get cleaned up now?” Taiyang asked.

“I’ll take it. Thanks.” Yang let out a sigh of contentment as the hot water poured over her aching muscles. It’s always a nice feeling, basking in a post-workout glow. Your muscles may be sore, but knowing you’ve completed your goals and gotten better more than makes up for it. ‘I wonder where Blake is?’ The smile that had been on Yang’s face since landing the hit on her father quickly disappeared. Where had that come from? She hadn’t thought about the Faunus all day. ‘I don’t care about Blake anymore,’ the young Huntress thought, ‘she obviously doesn’t care about me.’ That wound still stings, I believe.

Her good mood now gone, Yang toweled dry and walked back into the main living room of the house. Her father was hunched over their old radio as a staticy voice filled the room. “What- “

“Shh, they’re making an announcement from the city.” Taiyang turned a knob slightly and suddenly the static was gone and Glynda Goodwitch’s voice rang out from the speaker.

“-we will alert you with that information. This message will repeat. To any citizens of Vale that can hear this, my name is Professor Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon Academy. Councilman Ilya was killed in the attack on the city several weeks ago and the other two Council members are still unaccounted for. Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon is…missing and assumed dead. We are still in the process of counting civilian casualties and contacting family members. This may seem grim, but I promise we are far from defeated. The kingdom’s defenses are still fully operational and all Grimm within the city have been destroyed. The island of Patch has had no sightings of Grimm and the monsters on the campus of Beacon are completely surrounded with no way of getting back into the city. As the CCT is still down, this frequency will be used for official transmissions from myself or any member of the Council. All of the other cities in Vale have been notified as well as the governments of the other three kingdoms. Our first priority is to reestablish regular communications outside our borders. Until that time, our knowledge and ability to get information out is restricted to radio signals and word of mouth. There is still hope however and in order to move forward, we must work together. When we learn anything new, we will alert you with that information. This message will repeat. To any- “

“Sounds pretty rough out there,” Taiyang said shutting off the radio. “Glad I still have this old thing though, sounds like it may come in handy going forwards too. Are you okay Yang, you’re not looking so great.”

“I’m fine. I’m going to my room to read for a while, I’ll talk later.” She turned away and left her father alone with the radio. Despite what she had said to Taiyang, she couldn’t seem to focus on the words on the page in front of her. Not even her mother’s book could capture her attention. ‘Why did she leave me?’

Although it was definitely not the first time Yang has asked herself that question, the answer still eluded her. What possible motivation did her teammate have for abandoning her? That single question filled Yang’s mind. Blake was special, she was…important to the young Huntress. How could all of that be lost so easily?

   


# Ruby

To say that Nereo was a bustling port city should be a crime. It was far more than that. Nereo teemed with life. Its streets pulsed with people. Even its back alleys felt like an ant colony, full of the constant motion necessary for the city to continue at the breakneck pace it never seemed to slow down from. Team RNJR was not well equipped to handle this.

Ruby had grown up on Patch, at best a suburb, and most of her time in mainland Vale was spent on the rather secluded campuses of Signal and Beacon. Ren and Nora both hailed from a small village and had never seen so many people together at once. While the Arc family may be large, their hometown was not and Jaunne was just as out of his element as his friends. Nora was enjoying the excitement immensely while it appeared that Ren had gone into sensory overload, barely keeping track of his three teammates. While not one hundred percent oblivious, I’m afraid the wonders that were leaving such an impression on his friends passed Jaunne by unnoticed.

As any good port city can claim, the heart of Nereo was the fish market. Shouts filled the air and massive amounts of seafood changed hands at a frightening pace. Negotiations were boisterous and oddly enthralling, as if a casual passerby had somehow walked into the middle of some raucous stage production. And all of this was tinged with the smell of the sea, seeming to make the very air itself fill with life.

Ren was furiously trying to drown out all the noise so he could focus on the nutritious values of eating white meat while Nora had heart eyes, totally enraptured by the bedlam around her. After a few hours of the furious hustle of the city, the novelty seemed to run out for Ruby. It was loud. There were lots of people. Let’s move on, she decided. They four friends eventually found a quiet alley to take stock and regroup.

“Okay, so we definitely need to get to the docks and find a ship headed for Mistral, but first, let’s just take a few minutes to, you know cool down, enjoy the quiet. Cities are cool and all, but that is a lot of people,” said Ruby.

“Agreed,” Ren replied emphatically. “Nora are you all right, you’ve kind of glassed over?”

“I have felt more in the past hour than I have my entire life, it’s like being a candle that’s lit with a flamethrower, I can’t really think straight and am totally babbling right now, but that’s okay because holy cow we’re in the most amazing place in the world right now, I might need a while to process all this, but right now I really need to breathe so I’m going to stop and do that now.”

“Yep, that about sums it up,” Ren commented as Nora doubled over wheezing next to him.

“What about you Jaunne? It’s a bit much isn’t it?”

“What? Oh, yeah, you’re right, there is a lot of people.”

Ruby exchanged worried glances with Ren and Nora. It seems even Nereo couldn’t rouse Mr. Arc from his own thoughts. But that’s not why they had come to the city, this was only a stepping stone to their next destination. By nightfall they had secured passage to Mistral and were aboard a freighter leaving for the Northeastern kingdom. Their quarters weren’t spacious or particularly comfortable, but the ride would not be a long one; the man at the docks had said around forty hours afloat.

After the first night aboard the massive cargo ship, Ruby was most definitely sore, but her worrying for Jaunne had reached critical mass. When it came to her friends needing help, her own problems came second. She found him propped up against a wall, staring blankly at the wall opposite him.

“Hey Jaunne. Umm, do you have a minute to talk, because I think you could really use it.”

Mr. Arc’s eyes remained trained on the wall in front of him as he sighed. “I told you Ruby, I’m fine. I don’t need to talk.”

“You keep saying that, but you’re not okay Jaunne. Every day you’re like this, just staring off into space. And you won’t ask for help, but you need it, and I’m here for you.”

Jaunne gritted his teeth and his eyes snapped to Ruby. “And what are you going to do about it? She’s fucking dead Ruby; do you hear me, Pyrrha’s dead! There’s nothing you can do to change that!” he exploded. With that out of his system, the young man slumped back down against the wall and lowered his eyes from Ruby’s. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just, how am I supposed to do this? She was the most important person in my life, and now all of that is just…gone. How am I supposed to move on from that?”

Ms. Rose’s eyes were full of sadness as she sat down next to Jaunne. “Have I ever told you about my mother?” she asked.

“Uhh, no. I think Yang might have mentioned she was a Huntress. Why?”

“Yeah, she and my Dad were on a team together back when they were students at Beacon. She died when I was seven. It was on a solo mission way out in the wilds. My Dad got an alert when her scroll reported that her aura had dropped to zero and hadn’t recovered in over a day. I didn’t really understand all of it at the time, but it definitely wasn’t easy. Dad just shut down for a while, and Yang had to take care of me.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t have any idea about all that.”

“Yeah, neither of us really talk about it.”

“What was her name?”

“Summer. Summer Rose. She wasn’t married to my Dad when I was born so I got her last name. Yang has…a different mom. That’s why we have different last names.”

“I was kind of curious about that.”

“Anyways, what I’m trying to get at, is that it’s possible to move on. It’s really hard, but you can do it. I did it and I’m sure that you can too. I believe in you Jaunne. It’s going to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done, but you can do it.”

“You, believe in me?” Jaunne asked, turning to his friend.

Ruby smiled back. “Yep. Pyrrha did too.”

“You really think that?”

“No doubt about it.”

Jaunne smiled as he wiped away the tears that had begun to form in his eyes. “Thank you Ruby. And I’m sorry I’ve been so distant, she was your friend too. Umm, this may be a weird question, but are you sleeping okay? I keep hearing you tossing and turning at night. Is it Penny? I know you two were close.”

Ruby paused and looked away, “yeah, I keep dreaming about that fight. It’s hard seeing it every night.”

“You know; my Mom is really good with potions. When I was younger I used to have night terrors and she made me this potion to drink before I went to sleep. It tasted worse than one of Ren’s smoothies, but I wouldn’t dream at all after I drank one. They aren’t really hard to make and the ingredients are pretty common. I’m pretty sure I could even find the stuff to make it on this ship if I looked hard enough.”

“Do you think you could do that?” Ruby asked hopefully. Even one night of sleep without seeing her friend’s death would be a gift.

“Sure. Take this as my first step towards moving forwards.”

What followed was a harrowing caper throughout the ship, raiding the kitchen and several supply areas. After they were both sure they had everything on Jaunne’s list, they reconvened at their sleeping quarters, stash of ingredients in tow.

“Okay that looks like everything. Now just hand me that pan over there and- wait is that milk? Why do we have milk?”

“Sorry, I just got kinda thirsty running around the ship. Also I totally didn’t pack any for the trip here, because you know, spoiled milk. Water’s fine for a while, but the cravings man. They haunt me night and day.”

Jaunne laughed, his first time since Pyrrha’s death. It seems Ms. Rose’s talents go well beyond her fighting abilities. She must have gotten it from her mother, quite a remarkable woman. Summer Rose was a model student back when she attended Beacon and universally loved by all her fellow students. No matter who it was, Summer always knew just what to say to make things better. Even a single kind word from her could lift your spirits and get you back to where you needed to be. Team STRQ truly was a force to be reckoned with back in the day. I wish you could have seen them back then, so vibrant and full of life. But then things happened, as they inevitably do and the team was scattered to the winds. Even alone they were all uniquely skilled Hunters, but the magic they once had was gone.

If you’re getting a feeling of déjà vu you have good instincts. History repeats itself. It loops and twists around itself, no new characters or plots, just different faces playing out the same drama. And here I was saying I wouldn’t go on any monologues. Perhaps I just like hearing myself talk. I’ll leave that decision to you.

True to his word, Mr. Arc’s potion did Ruby wonders and for the first time since the attack on the school, Ruby had a full night’s sleep without pain or terror. She awoke the next day rested and ready to continue in her journey to find the murderer who did all of this. ‘Cinder Fall is going down’ she decided. ‘Huh… Fall, going down… Yang would love that. Oh no, she’s infected me. This is terrible. I have Yangolepsy! Dust no, it’s already infected my pun centers! I don’t have long, please friends, go on without me. I- uhh aghh eee urgggggghhhhh……’

After a delightfully overacted collapse onto the floor of her sleeping quarters Ruby jumped back up and took a drink from her bottle of milk. ‘Okay all better!’ With a hop, skip, and a jump she made her way to the windows outside her room, seeing if she could get a glimpse of Mistral. They would be landing sometime around noon she figured. Ms. Rose had never visited another kingdom before and this would be quite an adventure. But how would they pick up Cinder’s trail once inside Haven?

Obviously the rock with the semblance symbol they had found back in the wilds of Vale had been used by Cinder, and Qrow had said she had been seen near Mistral’s battle academy. If the symbol truly was created with a teleportation semblance, then finding where in Haven Cinder had teleported to would be quite a daunting task. Team RNJR had spoken about this very problem the night before and had come up with no solid answers. But Ruby had a plan, like she always does, to move forward. The headmaster of Haven would surely know more about what was going on and was good friends with Ozpin. Surely she would help the four young Hunters.

Indeed, Aoife Sealgaire was a friend of Ozpin and the greatest Huntess in Mistral. Her help would be invaluable to Team RNJR. At least in my humble opinion that is. Nora, Jaunne, and Ren quickly agreed to their friend’s plan and decided to head straight for the Headmistress’ office as soon as they arrived in Haven.

Just past 11:00 the coastline of Mistral could be seen through the small porthole outside of the rooms the four young hunters had been sharing. It’s a beautiful country and the last true kingdom in Remnant. For centuries the Aurialis family has held the throne. While the other three kingdoms abolished their monarchies many years ago and implemented more democratic forms of government, the Mistralian royal family has maintained its popularity. The Southern edge of the country is dominated by rolling hills going all the way to the horizon, a striking sight from the freighter’s window. Ruby’s eyes widened as she caught her first glimpse of that endless grassland.

This was the homeland of Cinder Fall. This was where her lust for power first began. Her desire for dominance has already caused enough tragedy, and it was up to four young heroes to stop her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are still enjoying this! This is my first fic on AO3 so sitting and watching the reader count go up is a pretty novel thing for me. Anyways, chapter three is going to be up in the next week or two, so keep an eye out for it when it comes out.


	3. Catch 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss and Neopolitan are introduced as new characters while Qrow meets Shade's headmaster and Ruby meets Haven's.

# Weiss

“Checkmate.” The word came out of his mouth like a death sentence, a penalty to someone he had judged and found wanting. “That was extremely subpar, Weiss.” The young Huntress didn’t meet her father’s eyes as his mustache twitched disapprovingly. Werden Schnee, as always, was dressed in an immaculately tailored suit and sat with perfect posture opposite his daughter. His face was fixed in a permanent scowl after years of carefully perfecting Remnant’s greatest poker face. As the richest businessman in the world everything about him was precisely ordered to work as smoothly as a well-oiled machine.

After hearing no rebuttal from his youngest daughter, the old businessman stood up, adjusting his stark white sport coat. “We will play again tomorrow. I hope you have improved your game by then.”

“Yes sir…” Weiss trailed off as her father turned and walked stiffly from the room. She looked down at the chessboard in front of her, still showing her resounding defeat. After a long drawn out sigh, she stood up and walked to the door. As soon as her heels had left the room, a maid came in behind her to clean off the chess table and set all of the handcrafted pieces back into place.

If ever there was a building designed with the ideals of both decadence and austerity in mind, the Schnee Mansion, was it. Beautiful, yet empty, it dominated the skyline in every direction, soaring above the uneven hills around it. The finest materials and architects were assembled from all over Remnant to create the mansion. Even notoriously hard to impress critics were swept off their feet upon entering every room, each more awe-inspiring than the last. And therein lies the heart of the mansion. Its purpose was to impress, never to be a home. Personally if I was that rich, I would spend it on something I actually enjoyed, but to each their own I suppose.

Weiss’ footsteps echoed hollowly on the marble floor as she made her way upstairs to her suite. There were only three permanent residents of the mansion besides the staff, who were trained not to interfere with family members as much as possible. Most days one could walk from one end of the magnificent structure to the other without seeing another human being. Such was the case for the youngest member of the Schnee family as she finally reached her rooms in the top floor of one of the several towers connected to the main body of the building.

She entered into her suite through a heavy oaken door which swung closed behind her. Her main living area was a study in minimalism with blank walls occasionally interrupted with a painting that cost more than a small airship. The walls, floor, ceiling, even the furniture were all white, the only color being the aforementioned paintings. With another load sigh, she crossed this room as well and walked into her private sleeping room. An enormous four poster bed dominated the space and drew the eye as soon as one walked through the door. The bedspread was, unsurprisingly, white. On either side of the bed were large windows looking out over the countryside, giving an absolutely spectacular view of the surrounding land, now covered in snow. I’ll let you guess what color the drapes were.

After coming to grips with Ms. Schnee’s monolithic bed, however, you can find more human touches in the room. In a house characterized by impersonal austerity, these small tokens were a breath of fresh air. A book given to her by Blake on her birthday a few months previously was splayed haphazardly on the bed stand next to the card Neptune had given her on the same day. On the wall hung a finger-painting made by her sister, Winter, when they were still young girls. The young Huntress yawned and absent-mindedly picked up a cookie she had left on a table near the door. Ruby had taught her the recipe when the four girls first moved in together, and although she would never admit it, Weiss had made far more batches than she cared to remember.

After finishing off the last crumbs of the delicious cookie, Ms. Schnee walked over to her rather impressive sound system and hit play on her favorite cd. It was a mixtape Yang had given her, and while she didn’t particularly understand why her teammate had said that it was, “fire”, she had given it a listen and instantly fell in love. Although the tape probably did have more Achieve Men songs than what could be considered good taste, Weiss had listened to it almost every day since receiving it.

What a terrible feeling, to be homesick while sitting in your own bedroom. Beacon had only been Ms. Schnee’s home for a few short months, but the people there had truly made her more welcome than she had ever felt in her father’s mansion. Thinking about her three teammates also caused a pit of worry to form in Weiss’ stomach. She still didn’t know what happened to Ruby after she had fought Cinder on top of Beacon Tower, only getting a glimpse of her unconscious body before Qrow whisked her away to Patch. Yang’s arm was gone and Weiss knew the fun-loving Huntress well enough to know how much of a blow that would be. And Blake; she could be anywhere.

Weiss looked over at the mirror hanging on her bathroom door. Opals and sapphires were studded into the ivory frame and looked more expensive than my first home. “I just hope they’re alright.”

“Talking to yourself again sweetie?” Weiss whipped around to find the source of the sudden voice. A boy not much older than the young Huntress was standing on a glyph over empty space just outside her window. Messy, white hair and a scruffy jaw were matched with torn jeans and a ragged canvas jacket. His face was twisted in a cocky grin as he slouched hundreds of feet above the ground.

“What are you doing here Weyland, you know father will kill you if he sees you in the mansion again.”

Despite her words, the boy’s grin only widened. “See that’s the thing, if you look very closely I’m not actually in his house, I’m outside it. Besides how could I miss my dear little sister slipping into an existential depression. Wouldn’t miss that for anything.”

Ms. Schnee rolled her eyes. Her father had thrown his only son out of his house for a reason, and at the moment, she almost agreed with his logic. “I’m pretty sure semantics aren’t going to stop him when he sees you.”

“You act like it’s some foregone conclusion, have some faith in me. I’ve evaded him so far haven’t I.”

For a moment, Weiss could only shake her head at Weyland’s audacity. Their father had threatened serious violence if his son ever tried to return home.

“Cat got your tongue? Come on, you must have something to say back.”

“Just let it go, you really shouldn’t be here anyways.” Weiss turned and sulked away, back into her room and away from the window. At this her brother frowned, showing real concern for the young Huntress.

“What’s wrong kid, I know dad dragging you back from Vale was rough, but it’s been weeks now. Honestly you should have kind of seen that coming, he was never going to let you stay away forever.”

This made Weiss stop and turn around. She looked like she was getting ready to build up and unleash a tirade upon her shabby opponent, but all of a sudden, all of the wind left her sails and she slumped down. “It’s my team, my friends. I…miss them.”

Weyland’s eyebrows raised so fast they almost entered orbit. “No shit! The Ice Queen has friends. Excuse me while I go look for some flying pigs.” Weiss glared at her brother. “Wow, you’re serious. Okay, um are they alright after all the stuff that went down in Vale when you left?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know. With the CCT still down, we have no way of talking and everyone was really hurt after the attack. Students died, Weyland, my friends died. How am I just supposed to get over that?”

“Weiss, I am so sorry. What can I do to help?”

“I don’t know, I just don’t know.” Tears began to well up in the young Huntress’ eyes, overcome with worry and sadness for her missing friends. Weyland stepped forward, more glyphs appearing under his feet to form a staircase down to the floor inside the room. He hugged his sister, gently whispering to her that everything would be alright. Although a hug couldn’t bring back Pyrrha or Penny, nor ensure that her teammates were safe, at that moment, she would take a little human comfort over a dozen mansions.

Pain and uncertainty are an unfortunate part of the human experience, yet necessary nonetheless. Sometimes, it builds character and forces us to grow as human beings, but sometimes it just hurts. Werden Schnee assumed that he was making his daughter stronger, but in reality, it was her friends that were making her stronger. These were the same friends that he had taken her away from. I’m not quite sure I have the right to call that irony, but it seems awfully close to me.

 

# Qrow

Vacuo, the land of shifting sands. Even in the dead of winter, the very air seemed to burn with an intense heat. Yes, Vacuo is hot, dry, and possessed of a rugged beauty that few could match and even less could better. The scorched wastes that dominate the southeastern section of the kingdom are truly a sight to behold. Sand dunes roll all the way to the horizon, interrupted only by abrupt crags and the occasional stone monolith, reaching up to the sky in primeval vainglory. I love Vacuo. That is not to say that it can top my home, Vale, but one love does not cancel out another. Unfortunately, not all share my fascination with the desert kingdom, and I am afraid to say its wonders are lost on one particular Huntsman.

‘How the hell does sand even get up this high?’ Qrow asked no one in particular as he furiously spat the offending grains from his beak. ‘I swear they’re not paying me enough for this bullshit. Oh wait, that’s right, they’re not paying me at all! Fucking wonderful!’ This internal monologue had been going on for quite some time and contained more four letter words than I care to count. Although he may censor himself for his two nieces, Qrow most certainly didn’t try to hold back his thoughts while flying hundreds of feet above the ‘Dust-forsaken hellhole of a kingdom’.

Yet despite his grumblings, Qrow pressed onwards to his destination; Shade, the famed battle academy of Vacuo. After his dramatic exit from the hospital, he had spent one more night at the Dancing Stallion before flying west. Now that he had discovered how the White Fang had gotten into the city and informed Professor Goodwitch of the threat that remained, he believed his duties in Vale were done. However, Remnant is a small world and the problems of one kingdom invariably affect the other three. Even more so considering the existence of the four maidens. Cinder’s first step in attacking Vale was the assault on Amber, the Fall Maiden. If that trend continued, the other three were in grave danger. Ironwood knew of the situation, but Sande and Aoife hadn’t gotten the new information due to the loss of Vale’s CCT. That meant the responsibility of informing them of the danger to Summer and Spring fell to Qrow.

‘I can’t believe Ozpin ever convinced me to join his little pack of secret world leaders. And why is it that I’m always the one doing the shit jobs? You don’t see Glynda flying over some wasteland on a broomstick.’ Shade, unlike Beacon is not actually located inside the capital city of Vacuo, rather it resides about ten miles from the outskirts of Thinis, the infamous desert metropolis. Qrow’s dark wings propelled him farther northwest; he was a fast flyer and any minute he would be able to see Shade in the distance.

‘Is that it, or just another one of these damn rocks. No that’s definitely Shade, that main spire is pretty unmistakable.’ As the Huntsman drew closer however, he began to notice a more frightening detail. ‘Are those airships flying over campus? That makes no sense; there’s a no fly zone over the school. I got a bad feeling about this.’

Over the next few hours the ‘bad feeling’ the grizzled Huntsman mentioned only grew stronger. Every wing stroke gave rise to new suspicions as he neared the academy. A few minutes away from the outer buildings of campus, Qrow finally recognized the airships that now circled Shade’s central spire. They were the same ones that the White Fang had used to infiltrate Vale. Qrow’s worry turned to dread. Had the attack on Vacuo already begun?

Qrow flew frantically towards the headmaster’s office at the top of the central spire. If a defense was to be mounted it would start at Sande’s desk, and that’s where the grizzled Huntsman needed to be. Dodging under a circling airship and catching an updraft he approached the huge window at the back of the headmaster’s office. What he saw seemed to confirm his fears. Sande stood alone with dual sabers drawn as he faced down six White Fang warriors. One of the intruders stepped forwards, hand on a sword hanging from his waist. Qrow immediately recognized the mask covering the upper half of the man’s face and shocking red hair. ‘That’s the bastard that took Yang’s arm’ Qrow thought as rage replaced every ounce of fear inside him.

Without even a second thought Qrow dove for the window, changing form just before making contact. He crashed through in an explosion of glass drawing his weapon as he tumbled through the air, and landed on his feet next to Sande. “What is the meaning of this?” Adam shouted as he loosened his sword in its sheath, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.

“Sorry to drop by without making an appointment, Sande, but little Mr. Edgelord over there looked like he needed an ass-kicking,” Qrow said as he stared down his opponents.

“Qrow! Perfect timing! For a moment there I was afraid these chumps were gonna lose to just one guy. I would’ve had to feel bad for ‘em.” Sande grinned at his friend and twirled his twin sabers, elegantly engraved script shimmering up and down each blade. Shade’s headmaster stood at just under six foot, though his messy blond hair made up the difference. At the base of his spine, the long and fluffy tail of a coyote poked its way out into the open, marking him as a Faunus. He wore dark purple shorts and worn sandals, while a tattered shirt that seemed to be missing a few buttons exposed his deeply tanned chest. While his attire was less than serious, his combat skills were exactly the opposite. His speed and precision were legendary and it was a rare fighter indeed who would not falter before his whirling swords.

“Enough! You will either support the White Fang, _headmaster_ , or you will die.”

Adam’s ultimatum was met with a laugh from Sande. “I’d like to see you try.”

The arrogant Faunus gritted his teeth and, boots digging in to the floor, leapt at the headmaster, drawing his sword at blinding speed. Sande blocked with both of his blades, but Adam’s momentum slid him backwards across the office. Meanwhile, Viper revved his chainsaw and lunged towards Qrow who dodged and lashed out with his sword. The other four elects who had flanked Adam and Viper edged forwards looking for an opening in their opponents’ defenses to exploit.

Fury, oh fury; what a thing to behold. The desert sun struck bare steel, sending confusing shimmers throughout the office. Viper’s chainsaw roared as yells and the unmistakable striking of metal on metal filled the room. Halfway between a dance and a symphony the combatants whirled around one another desperately seeking to gain the upper hand.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the four elects that were defeated first. Qrow could tell they were waiting for an opening, so he gave them one. He showed one his back for a full second, giving the Faunus more than enough time to thrust a spear towards the older Huntsman’s spine. At the last moment, he sidestepped and brought his weapon up, flicking it into its gun form. Firing point blank into the elect’s face, Qrow pressed his advantage and kicked his hapless opponent out the already broken window. The second elect was warier and Mr. Branwen was forced to change up his tactics. Switching to his scythe mid swing, he hooked a chair and sent it sliding towards his opponent. The ensuing stumble was all Qrow needed as he leapt towards his Faunus attacker, sending a dizzying serious of swipes and slashes towards her. Just as her aura fell away to nothing, he shot his scythe forwards catching his opponent behind the back and sending her careening towards him. The crunch that echoed through the room as Qrow’s knee connected with his opponent’s chin was sickening enough to make Viper wince.

Sande fought with captivating precision and speed. His twin swords whipped through the air as he seemed to send forth three or even four times as many strikes as his opponents. Although fighting three on one, his consummate skill could not be beat. By whittling down the auras of the two elects fighting him with jabs and quick slashes, he could proceed to land a devastating final blow when their soul-shields dropped to zero. The first caught a powerful kick from Sande’s sandal clad foot while the other’s head was slammed into the headmaster’s desk.

That left only Adam and Viper to content with. While Adam was always an extremely difficult opponent with his lightning fast attacks and ability to cut through an enemy’s aura, but by that time, Viper’s semblance was beginning to kick in. Although a slow starter, the heavily-muscled Faunus increased in speed and strength as the battle wore on. Initially Qrow had no trouble holding him off, but as the seconds ticked by, he was becoming increasingly difficult to handle. Qrow switched his weapon back into a sword as he began to lose ground to the bigger man. Sande was in similar difficulty. While Adam had the benefit of his aura to protect him, his hidden ability to cut through his opponent’s armor forced the headmaster to have to avoid every strike. This was a lesson Sande had learned the hard way as a cut on his upper arm could attest to.

However, the White Fang’s advantage was not to last. They had played all their trump cards; the four elects, Viper’s increasing abilities, and the surprise of Adam’s first strikes, but had not gained a significant advantage over the Huntsmen. Viper swung his chainsaw in a huge overhead arc, which Qrow blocked, holding firm under the weight of the attack. ‘Huh,’ thought Qrow, ‘a few minutes ago that strike would’ve made my knees buckle. Maybe that increasing strength over time thing works both ways.’ “Hey big guy, you having trouble keeping it up?” he taunted.

Viper growled and swung recklessly at his enemy. Qrow caught the attack with his blade and slapped it away contemptuously. He pressed his advantage, backing the bigger Faunus up almost to the opposite wall. “Hey, Sande, I’ll trade you. Looks like you could use a break!”

“’Preciate it,” Sande grunted as he dove away from Adam’s strikes and landed in front of Viper, swords bared. Qrow advanced on Adam and activated the clockwork mechanism on his weapon causing it to unfold to its full scythe form.

“Fancy,” Adam mocked, “too bad you won't be leaving this place alive.”

Qrow continued to advance as he could hear swords striking chainsaw. “You cut off my niece’s arm when you attacked Beacon you bastard. She deserves some payback, and I think I’m just the one to give it to her.”

“Wait, you’re that blonde bitch’s uncle? Don’t make me laugh. She doesn’t _deserve_ anything. She couldn’t fight me, so I hurt her. Simple as that.”

There was no humor in Qrow’s face anymore. This was serious. That motherfucker in front of him had shed his kin’s blood and now dared to talk about her like that. With an animalistic fury, the Huntsman leapt forwards spinning his scythe at terrifying speed. While extremely skilled with every form his weapon could take, Qrow’s specialty was the scythe. Even before coming to Beacon he was a prodigy with it. I remember him even beating a few of the professors at the time. Something we all found highly amusing.

Adam was forced to retreat as he desperately tried to avoid the spinning blade. Eventually his back met a wall and he was forced to test Qrow’s strength, blade on blade. The older Huntsman had taken a double-handed grip, slowly forcing his scythe down towards Adam’s face who was holding his katana with both hands above his head. A humorless twinkle was in Qrow’s eye as he continued his blade’s inexorable march downwards. Perhaps he shares more in common with Yang than I had guessed.

As the scythe was mere inches from his face, Adam tried one last ditch trick. He kicked out with his foot and jumped to the side, away from Qrow. This solved his problem momentarily, but as he looked over to his sole companion who was vastly outmatched now that his semblance was working against him, he realized that there was no way they were to going to win this.

“Viper, we need to fall back! Come on, the ships are just outside the window!” Viper nodded his head once and dashed past Sande, heading straight for the shattered window. Adam followed a second later and without a second thought, both jumped from the window. A few moments later Qrow got one final look at them as the airship they had landed on passed by the window on its way out of Shade.

Sande looked over at Qrow, both of them panting heavily. “Well, looks like we still got it.” He stretched his shoulders out and replaced his sabers in their sheaths along his waist. Qrow folded his scythe back upon itself as adrenaline still rushed through his veins from the fight.

Just as the two Huntsmen managed to control their heavy breathing, several older individuals burst into the room followed by a teenaged girl with long purple hair. One of the older Huntresses, presumably one of Vacuo’s professors rushed to Sande’s side and asked, “are you alright sir? We came as soon we learned what was going on.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, Pallas. Qrow and I could handle twice as many of those dumbasses without breaking a sweat, couldn’t we Qrow?”

“Speak for yourself Sande, I’ve been sweating since I got to this desert you call a kingdom. And birds don’t even sweat. Do you know how hot it has to be for something without sweat glands to start sweating? Really. Fucking. Hot.”

“I see you’re still the same as ever,” Pallas said with a disapproving look in her eyes.

Qrow glared at her. “Are you sure you’re not related to Glynda, sometimes I even forget you’re not the same person.” Suddenly the purple-haired teenager pushed her way forward and grinned at the older Huntsman.

“Hey Qrow, how’s it going? Long time no see.”

Qrow grinned back at the girl, “You’re looking good kid, last time I saw you, you were just a little pipsqueak. Now you’ve almost graduated to short.”

“I am not short!” she pouted. What a world this is, to see the personification of summer pouting. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of Remnant. Now before you ask the question, this girl, Violet, was in fact the Summer Maiden, one of the four that Qrow had sworn to protect.

“Sounds like something a short person would say,” said the grizzled Huntsman as his grin widened. He ruffled her purple hair before turning back to Sande. “I think we have a lot to talk about.”

   


# Neopolitan

As the White Fang’s newest elect, and the current leader of the organization’s forces in Vale, Anais Glint had a lot of responsibility to shoulder, or at least, the woman posing as her did. During the attack on Beacon, she distinguished herself as an excellent fighter and leader, stepping up while Adam was searching for Blake and his second in command, Viper, was leading the Grimm into the heart of the city. It was a sad end indeed to be killed and unceremoniously tossed into a dumpster at the edge of campus. Unfortunately, Neopolitan has never been known for having much respect for the dead.

After pulling off a safe landing at the end of her plummet from the Atlas warship during the attack, she knew that to avoid capture she needed a way out of the city and a new face. Anais was just the first unlucky soul she came upon. Neo’s semblance allows her to change her body into that of anyone she has ever killed. You may be horrified to know that she figured this out at quite a young age. Let’s just say that Neo’s left eye is pink and her right is brown. Her twin sister’s eyes were the opposite when she was alive.

Without the assistance of Roman Torchwick’s vast network of resources, our shape-shifting friend’s best bet was to get in with the White Fang. They could be her cover out of Vale and a wonderful way to stay low until the ensuing storm blew over. After finding Anais and killing her, it only took a moment for Neo to take her place in the White Fang. To be fair she had a lot of practice doing this sort of thing, and this would no doubt be far from her last time doing it either. After being chosen by Anais’ compatriots and confirmed by Adam, it was child’s play to fit in to her victim’s life. Of course, it was a challenge to try and fit in her lack of a voice, but it was a problem she had encountered many times before, and knew exactly how to make it work. Besides, this was only a temporary position. As soon as the coast was clear, she would make a break for it.

Just under a month after the attack on Beacon, the coast seemed to be clear as crystal and Neopolitan made her quiet exit, slipping away from the White Fang. For the first few hundred meters she stayed low to ground, making sure that no wandering eyes caught her. Once beyond the sight of even the most keen-eyed Faunus, Neo stood up and changed back to her original form. The feeling of slipping back into herself after being Anais for so long was exquisite. It was a bit like putting on an old, comfy shirt, but also a bit like coming home, home to her real form.

After making it back into Vale proper around three AM, a difficult question presented itself. Now that Roman was dead, and she no longer worked for Cinder, what was she going to do? Quite a relatable question and one I’m sure we’ve all asked ourselves before. In fact, it can be argued that once divorced from the challenges of pure survival, everything we do is in an effort to answer that single question. What should I do now? I won’t presume to answer it for you, but I will tell you what Neo chose to do.

She started by raiding the safe house she and Roman had set up for money and the equipment needed for the road ahead. After all the necessities were packed, she locked the door and left without a second glance.

Neo was just leaving the edges of town behind her as dawn’s first light crested the horizon. By midday, she was long gone.

Ah to be in the forests of Vale again. Even in winter when the trees are dormant and the ground rests under a blanket of snow, it is wondrous to behold. Tree branches seem to be frozen in time as they lifelessly hang above you. Your feet crunch delightfully in the snow and the sound of a bird’s chirping from somewhere unseen fills your ears. There are many miraculous things in this world, my friend, but if you have lived as long as me, then you know that few can match the splendor of nature. And there I am, giving another monologue. I promise I’ll stop one of these days.

Despite my glowing endorsement, Neopolitan was not bothering to enjoy her beautiful surroundings. For a moment she stopped and opened a small compartment in her pack, pulling out its contents and holding them up to the light. In her hand were three small rocks, each with an odd symbol etched onto it with luminous Dust. These were the last of the Semblance Stones given to her by Cinder, granting her the ability to teleport hundreds of miles in the blink of an eye. With only three remaining, she would have to use them wisely.

I believe we now must return to that fundamental question Neo asked herself a few hours before. What to do next. Nothing was keeping her in Vale and she had no desire to either go with the White Fang or work for Cinder and Salem again. Considering the things she had done, I doubt any ordinary member of society would take her in. Likewise, no Hunter would shelter her, and she was far too old to try and enroll in a battle academy. With both extremes out of the question, that left only the middle ground. Luckily for her, there are many third parties that work in the gray areas of Remnant and looking at the Semblance Stones had given Neo an idea.

Qrow once mentioned to Team RNJR that it took a great deal of skill to create a Semblance Stone and in that he was not wrong. The maker of these particular stones was once an extremely talented Huntress and one that Neo had met several times. She would be the criminal’s target. Neo’s first step would be to find the former Huntress and once that was accomplished, perhaps step two would present itself. Never let it be said that Neopolitan is a great planner.

While I am not one to judge, I might have to question Neo’s wisdom here. The Huntress in question is notoriously antisocial and whose motives and ambitions were well beyond the short criminal’s knowledge. Never mind the fact that the two women had fought during one of their brief meetings. However, if Neo always did make wise decisions, I doubt she would be in this position at all, so more power to her I suppose. Consistency is key after all.

   


# Ruby

Walking the streets of Mistral was quite an experience for Team RNJR. For Nora, Ren, and Jaunne it felt almost like a pilgrimage, knowing that this was the home of their friend yet not having her by their side. In the first month and a half after starting her first semester at Beacon, Pyrrha felt homesick often and told her teammates more than a few stories of the kingdom she grew up in. She even confided in me a handful of times about how much she missed Mistral and her family, however I suppose my memories aren’t particularly relevant to the story at hand. Every few minutes Pyrrha’s three teammates would recognize something from her stories, but that only seemed to make them feel lonelier. While Ruby had only heard a fraction of these stories, she could sense her friends’ somber mood and kept mainly to herself.

“Hey isn’t that the statue of-,” Ren said motioning towards a towering statue surrounded by fountains and a huge man-made pond.

“King Leopold IV. Do you guys remember that story she told about falling into one of those fountains when she was a kid? She always thought it was so much funnier than the rest of us.” While Jaunne had been acting a little more like his old self, it seems he was still a long way from moving on.

It would be several more minutes before anyone dared break the silence again. Team RNJR would have to travel through the heart of the city to reach Haven, their first stepping stone in Mistral. Once there, they planned to talk to Aoife, the headmaster of Mistral’s battle academy. With her help, perhaps they could catch Cinder’s trail once more.

Just as the four friends were walking past a brightly lit restaurant Jaunne recognized as Pyrrha’s favorite noodle place, Ruby noticed something odd going on down a quiet side street. Five people all dressed in matching hoodies were entering a Dust shop. As the young Huntress watched, four walked in the front door while the last took a moment to check the deserted street before putting on a Grimm mask and following his friends inside.

“Guys, I think there’s a robbery going on over there!” Before anyone could react, Ruby whipped open Crescent Rose and used her semblance to speed towards the Dust shop.

“Hey wait! And she’s gone. I guess we’d better help her,” Ren said tiredly.

“Ooh, can I smash something?” asked Nora with a terrifying look in her eye.

“Sure,” replied her team leader. “Smash.”

Meanwhile, Ruby had busted through the front door to find the owner of the shop being held up by five members of the White Fang. Mistral’s defenses were very similar to Vale’s and it would seem the Faunus extremists were planning on using the same strategy to penetrate those defenses. While the majority of the Dust used in the original attack was with Adam, he was still in Vacuo, and it would seem the Fang’s Mistral branch would not be waiting for his arrival to start amassing Dust. What go-getters.

Nora, Ren, and Jaunne ran towards the building and were just reaching the front door as the unconscious body of one of the would-be robbers crashed through the store’s window.

“Aww, she started without us,” Nora complained, eliciting a sigh from Jaunne. They quickly entered the store, weapons at the ready. Ruby was fighting four on one inside the building, and while her scythe’s superior range was keeping her away from her opponents, she was losing ground quickly. Jaunne charged into the fray with a yell, blocking with his shield and swinging blindly with his sword. Ren leaped over the store’s counter, firing his two pistols while still in the air. One of the robbers dodged a bullet from Ruby, but unfortunately for him, he had moved directly into the path of Nora’s hammer. Let’s just say that he wouldn’t be getting up for a while.

Two of the other robbers fell just as quickly and the third was sent flying through the window and into the street by a well-placed strike from Ruby. The four Hunters congratulated each other, but before they could check on the store clerk, they heard something from outside. They turned to see the fifth man staggering to his feet; and he was holding something glowing in his hand.

“Hey human bastards!” he called out, “do you know what this is?” He shook his hand at Team RNJR, showing a large, red crystal with an odd mechanism built onto it. The device was a form of weaponized Dust which acted similarly to a grenade. When the mechanism is activated, it triggers a three second countdown. At the end of those three seconds, it goes boom. “Drop your weapons now, or I throw this and you all go up in flames! Your choice.”

The four Hunters looked at each other, before laying their weapons on the ground. Even if they could escape the explosion, there was no way they could get the shop keeper out in time.

“Ha, not so scary after all are ya? Now here’s what’s gonna happen. You are going to walk through that door, one by one and then-,”

Suddenly a gray knife-like object attached to a long black band, swung through the air, knocking the Dust grenade from the robber’s hand. Before anyone could react a shadow dropped from somewhere above the Dust shop and with only a few strikes, knocked the White Fang member out cold.

Team RNJR looked on in shocked awe. The shadow flipped the knife back into its hand and turned to face the store front. As it turned the young Hunters recognized the shadowy figure’s long, black hair and the little bow that rested on top of her head.

“Blake?” Ruby cried in shock as she stared at her teammate. Leaving her three companions behind, Ruby slowly walked out of the store and up to her friend, who was steadfastly refusing to meet her eye. She stopped a few steps away from Blake, staring at the Faunus in silent question. Before anyone could move, Ruby leapt forward and punched her teammate, yelling in fury.

“Ruby wait!” Jaunne called out, running towards his friend in order to stop her.

“That’s for abandoning my sister!” Ruby screamed. Blake said nothing and made no effort to avoid or block Ruby’s punch. “You promised, Blake! You promised us you would never run away again!”

Finally, Blake spoke, and in a broken voice she replied, “Ruby, I am so sorry. If you want to hit me again, I won’t stop you. I deserve it.”

Ruby shook her head. “I don’t want to keep hitting you. I want to know why. Do you even know how much you hurt Yang?”

At the mention of her blonde teammate’s name, Blake visibly flinched. An eternity passed before the Faunus finally met Ruby’s eyes. “I left so that I could save her. If I hadn’t run away, then Adam would have killed her to get to me.”

“But if you’re here alone, then he could still find you, and try to hurt you!”

“No, Ruby. He will kill me. But if I’m alone, he can’t find you, or Weiss, or Yang.”

Ruby lashed out again at her teammate, as Blake stumbled backwards. “Don’t you dare say that! Don’t even think about trying to sacrifice yourself. We are a team, if someone is in trouble, then we help them. That’s what we’re here for!”

Blake looked down once more, trying to hide the single tear sliding down her face. Every muscle in her body tensed as if to absorb the force of some blow. “No, you don’t understand. If I am around any of you, he will kill you, and it will be my fault. If any of you were to die because of me then I…I couldn’t…”

By then the Faunus’ attempts to hold back the tears failed as sobs wracked her body. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Ruby stepping towards her and she flinched away, expecting another strike from her team’s leader. But the blow never came and instead she felt her friend embracing her. Blake felt Ruby’s sobs as well as her own and for a moment the two simply held each other, crying in the deserted street.

After what simultaneously felt like too long and a lifetime too short, it was Blake who pulled away first. She stepped back and stood awkwardly, trying to find something to say. Ruby looked up at her, “she still cares about you, you know. Even if you don’t go back to her, she’ll still care.”

“I can’t go back. Even if Adam dies I’ve still hurt her too much. Losing her arm was my fault and then I ran away. Going back would only hurt her more. And even if everything does turn into sunshine and rainbows what then? I don’t even deserve to be her friend, much less her partner. I made my choice, and even if it was the lesser of two evils, I still have to bear the consequences.” At this, Blake turned and began to walk down the street, and away from her friends.

“Wait!” Ruby called out, “do you even know where Adam is?” This made Blake pause and she slowly turned back around. “We’re going after Cinder. If anyone knows where he is or how to stop him, it’s her.”

“Are you saying Cinder is here? In Mistral?”

“My uncle said the last place she was seen was Haven. We’re going there to speak to the headmaster. She’ll know what to do.”

Blake considered for a moment before making her decision. “Sure. I’ll go with you to Haven, and if we can find Cinder, then I’ll help you fight her.”

With their newest member in tow, Team RNJR retrieved their weapons from the floor of the Dust shop and continued on their way to Haven. By mid-afternoon they had found their way into the office of Aoife Sealgaire, headmaster of Mistral’s battle academy. However, simply calling it an office might be a bit of a mistake. Upon entering the room, you might be reminded more of some esteemed gentleman’s library than a mundane office. Exquisitely handcrafted wooden bookshelves reached from floor to ceiling all around the perimeter of the room. Like sirens, leather armchairs seemed to tempt even the wariest of visitors into a comfortable demise amongst the books. Above each of the four stained-glass windows in the office rested a ceremonial bow, each etched with strange, runic symbols. How Aoife ever managed to do any work in a place of such mystical wonder is beyond me; I would gladly have spent my years reading each and every word hidden away in that office. Alas, my own office is a bit more barren.

Ruby and company walked through the office in awe, half-expecting some ghost wearing a powdered wig and frock coat to escort them to the headmaster’s desk. Unfortunately, no such apparition appeared and the five friends continued on their own to the hickory monstrosity that served as the desk of the Aoife Sealgaire. In appearance the headmaster of Haven was not particularly notable, yet her presence seemed to fill any room she set foot in. She was a slight woman, with dark hair cut short and always fond of wearing black clothes with golden accents. She greeted her five visitors professionally and with little change in her daunting facial expression.

“So. You are all students at Beacon correct? My name is Aoife Sealgaire. I am the headmaster here. Professor Goodwitch has already informed me of the general state of affairs in Vale, but I was expecting her to send more information sometime soon. I assumed either Glynda herself or Qrow would be the ones to deliver said information, but I suppose they can’t be everywhere.”

“Wait, how do you know my uncle? He never mentioned you before,”

“Uncle? You mean Qrow? Ah, then that makes you…it would seem Ozpin was right…hmm, silver eyes indeed.”

“We’re not actually here to deliver any information from Goodwitch ma’am,” Jaunne interjected, “you see, we’re after, Cinder, the person who attacked Vale.”

Aoife frowned. “Why do you think this person is here, in Mistral?”

Ms. Rose answered the question as she launched into a brief account of the past few weeks. “My uncle Qrow told me she was last seen in Haven, so we decided to follow her tracks from Vale, but then we found the stone thing which meant she probably teleported to Haven, which makes it really hard to track, but all of that was before we reached the ocean which now that I think about it, would also probably make it pretty hard to track her, but-,”

“Stop! Could you perhaps, slow down and go over that again, child. Maybe explaining each point before moving on to the next this time.”

“Right, well um, here goes. Qrow told me that Cinder was spotted somewhere in Haven. She killed one of our friends, so we decided it was the right thing to do to come after her. On the way we found this stone with a weird marking on it which Qrow called a Semblance Stone. He figured that Cinder had used it to teleport to Mistral. After that we made it to Nereo and took a ship here.”

After that slightly slower rendition of events, Aoife seemed to take a moment to think before opening a drawer in her desk and rummaging around inside it. “Go back to the part about the stone. You said it had a strange marking on it. Do you still have it with you?”

“Yeah its right here,” Ruby said, pulling the oddly marked rock from her pack. Aoife took a second to look at it before she finally found what she was looking for. She pulled her hand from behind the desk and placed a different stone with an identical Dust symbol on it.

“It would seem that your target didn’t stay in Mistral for long. One of my students found this lying in a back alley on campus about a week ago. If she used the stone you carry to get from Vale to Mistral, then where did she use this one to get to? Hmm, I’ll need to speak with someone about this.” At this point Aoife’s eyes seemed to lose focus as she began to speak more to herself than to her guests. “Glynda is going to be stuck in Vale for quite a while and with the CCT down indefinitely then radio would be the best bet of contacting her. That’s going to be quite a hassle though and it might just be easier to go and speak to her face to face. Sande is going to be hunkered down in Vacuo due to the White Fang for a while and James is stuck behind the Steel Curtain Atlas dropped after the Vytal Festival. That just leaves Qrow and the last I’ve heard of him, he was in Vacuo with Sande. He might stay there for a while too and I wouldn’t blame him after that White Fang attack-,”

After hearing that, Blake’s bow twitched as her ears perked up. “White Fang attack? They’re in Vacuo?” she said, interrupting Aoife’s reverie.

“What? Oh yes, Shade’s headmaster sent me a message saying some White Fang leader had attacked him trying to get him to side with their agenda. Qrow was lucky enough to get there in time and helped fight them off.”

“The White Fang leader, did Sande say anything about him? I need to know.”

“Professor Ajag said he was an extremely talented fighter who favored a katana. How did you know the White Fang leader was male?”

“Did he mention what color hair the attacker had?”

“Oddly enough, he did. It was red.”

Blake and Ruby looked to each other. Adam Taurus. The man who had helped Cinder attack Vale and Beacon. Adam Taurus. Blake’s former partner who had stabbed her and taken Yang’s arm. He was the cause of so much misery and he was going to answer for all of it.

“Go,” Ruby said, turning to face her teammate. “Do what you have to do.”

“Thank you Ruby. If you see Yang, please tell her that I’m sorry. All of this is my fault, and I can’t make it right anymore. But I swear to you. Adam will pay.”

   


# Emerald

How could it have come to this? Emerald’s body hurt. More than it had ever done before. She looked up to see Mercury standing over her, that damn grin still sitting on his face. Behind him was Cinder and that horrible, consuming fire seemed to leap from her eyes.

“Do it.”

Mercury’s grin widened and he lifted his leg above Emerald’s body. His boot hung in the air for no more than a second before it rocketed downwards with all the force of a jack hammer. Emerald closed her eyes.

Hold on a moment. I seem to have gotten ahead of myself. No sense in telling the end before the beginning is there? However, that begs the question of where I should begin. If a story is no more than the length between two points, the beginning and the end, then missing one of these points is quite catastrophic. Hmm, how about here? Yes, I like this one better, let’s begin there.

“I’m bored!” Emerald said as she jumped onto her bed. It had been just over a week since Cinder and her two accomplices had moved into Salem’s castle and the lack of any form of entertainment was starting to take its toll.

“You said that ten minutes ago,” Mercury complained without looking up, “and ten minutes before that, and ten minutes before that. We get it, you’re bored.”

“There is seriously nothing to do here.”

“I know.”

“There isn’t even any wi-fi here. What kind of barbarian doesn’t have wi-fi?”

“ _I know_.”

“I mean what does _she_ even do? Literally all I have seen her do is stare menacingly out that window. At the very least she could find a hobby or something.”

Mercury’s patience had apparently met its match as he angrily looked over at this partner, “are you really going to complain about everything now? You’re not exactly helping the whole boredom factor you know. Besides I thought you were terrified of this place or something.”

“I mean I was when I first got here, but living in constant terror gets old pretty damn fast. Besides, it’s like Cinder said, the scary stuff is outside the walls.”

“So long as they stay outside I don’t see anything to be worried about. And didn’t Miss boss lady say Salem could control them with her mind or something? Even if they did get in, she could just tell them to leave.”

“Sure I’ll believe she can control them, but do you really think she would tell them to leave? I mean, for us? She doesn’t really strike me as someone who would go out of her way for people like us.”

“There’s the scaredy-cat Emerald we all know and love. What are you gonna do, hide behind Cinder with your tail between your legs?”

“Fuck you too, Mercury.” After a deeply annoying laugh from Mr. Black the two criminals went back to what they had been doing before to help fight off the monotony. Mercury turned the page on the comic he had already read six times that week while Emerald played Tetris on her scroll.

Salem’s fortress was located deep in the badlands, an area well beyond the civilized portions of Remnant. This was no place for humans which is precisely why she had chosen to settle there. The castle is old not in the way you might think a relic or even a mountain is old, but more like how an idea is old. Consider the concept of sacrifice. How old do you think it is? Is it a purely human contrivance or a precept independent of our existence in the universe? That is how old Salem’s castle is. It is so ancient, so primeval that perhaps it even exists outside of our perception of time itself. I apologize; I doubt you came here for a lecture.

With that pretentious esotericism out of the way, I believe I can get more to the hard facts of the matter. Salem’s stronghold was dark and foreboding, seeming to sulk and brood over the inhospitable landscape. It was also enormous, capable of holding tens of thousands of souls, though no such number has ever passed through its gates. Emerald and Mercury were quartered deep within the heart of the castle, hidden away from the outside world. Until the next part of Salem’s plan started, they had little to do and were essentially just waiting for the effects of the events they had put in motion to take hold in the outside world. Until that time however, they were left alone in the dark with almost nothing to do.

“I’m bored,” Emerald complained as her scroll’s game flashed a ‘game over’ message at her.

Mercury sighed angrily, thoroughly fed up with his partner’s complaints. “I. Know. You’re. Bored. Quit saying it.”

Without warning Cinder burst into their rooms while just a hint of fire flickered mischievously up and down her arms. “Having fun are we? Come with me, I think I may have found something a little more, _interesting_ for you to do.”

Emerald and Mercury followed their employer down the dark hallways of the fortress towards whatever it was that Cinder found so ‘ _interesting_ ’. Eventually they walked into a much larger room than what they had been staying in, fully equipped with a large circular table made of black stone and a huge map of Remnant hanging from one of the walls. As the three entered, Cinder snapped her fingers and fire rushed from her hand to light the torches ensconced neatly around the room.

Ms. Fall turned back to her companions, glass heels striking the floor hollowly. “Welcome to the map room. I think it’s about time we started talking about the next stage of our plan.”

“I thought the next step was for us to wait until something big happened,” Emerald interjected.

“Please, it never hurts to be prepared. Phase three will be starting very soon and I’m sure you wouldn’t want us to be behind now would you.” As Cinder began to unveil the next stage of Salem’s grand plan, Emerald began to grow more and more worried. Attacking Vale had made her seriously question if she was capable of doing such things, but what was going to happen next was almost beyond comprehension. Salem was planning to start a war between the three remaining kingdoms in Remnant. The key would be mistrust of Atlas, which wouldn’t be difficult considering what people had seen during the Vale attack. Neither Vacuo nor Mistral could hope to take on the military titan alone, but an alliance of necessity could form and rival Atlas in pure firepower. This would be the ideal situation, a complete sundering of humanity’s unity.

When united by a common enemy, humanity is a fearsome opponent, but when separated and divided, then weaknesses begin to show. Salem knows this and planned to only attack when her enemies are arrayed against each other, not against her.

“Now are there any questions?” Cinder asked her associates.

Mercury shook his head no while stifling a yawn. Emerald however, was a completely different manner. This plan absolutely terrified her. How could she possibly work for anyone who was purposefully trying to eradicate the entirety of the human race? She nervously looked up to Cinder and was about to ask her if she truly meant to go through with this, but something in Ms. Fall’s eyes stopped her. The fallen huntress had once told Emerald that after receiving only part of the Fall Maiden’s power, that it burned like a hunger inside of her. Rather unnervingly she had claimed to enjoy it. However, now that she had all of the Maiden’s power, had that hunger decreased or grown stronger? Emerald looked into Cinder’s eyes and saw nothing but desire and fire, always fire. I’m not sure which one of those scared Emerald the most, but she did decide to drop her questions on Salem’s plan.

“Wonderful. If there’s nothing else, our host wanted to see us.”

“Old witchy wants to see us? That’s hardly better than just sitting around,” complained Mercury, linking his hands behind his head.

“I think it would be most unwise to deny someone as _generous_ as her, don’t you?”

“Whatever.”

Together the three criminals left the map room and made their way to the great hall. As they entered, Salem was once again standing at the top of a long staircase, staring out at the badlands. At the sound of their footsteps she slowly turned around to face them from above.

“I believe you asked to see us,” Cinder said as she bowed deeply.

“You have a traitor in your midst. I intercepted a message sent late last night. It was sent electronically over a scroll. We’re out of range of the CCT, but instead of sending a text based message, whoever sent this used long-range electric pulses to simulate Morse Code. Luckily I was able to dampen the signal enough to stop it reaching any of the four kingdoms. None of my servants have the knowledge or equipment to do something like this, which means you’ve been harboring a rat.”

“Who?”

“The message was signed, ES.”

ES, Emerald Sustrai. The thief turned to face her colleagues with absolute dread etched onto her face. This had been her last and only hope of stopping Salem’s plan, to warn Remnant of what was going to happen. But despite her best intentions, she had failed. Panic threatened to consume her, as her fingers shook uncontrollably. She fumbled for her pistols while slowly inching towards the corner of the room.

Mercury winked casually at Cinder, “will I play exterminator or do you want the pleasure for yourself?”

“She’s all yours. Don’t let her leave this room.”

Emerald’s heart sped up to dangerous levels, as adrenaline began to kick in. This was it. There was no way out. She looked at Cinder and begged, tears filling her eyes. “Please don’t, I was only-,”

“Shh, don’t worry little rat. It’ll all be over soon.”

Mercury’s horrible grin widened as he assumed a battle position, “sorry Em, but it looks like the end of the line.”

Just as Cinder predicted, it was over soon. Emerald was a thief not a fighter, and Mercury was intimately familiar with her semblance. It was like having a trick but no sleeve to hide it in, and just like that the fight was over.

Emerald landed hard on the cold, black stone of castle floor. Her aura had been completely depleted and her body was mangled and broken. Everything hurt terribly, worse than she could ever have imagined. Mercury stood over her, grin still hanging eerily on his face. He looked over at Cinder for confirmation. Her eyes flashed with fire before answering his unspoken request.

“Do it.”

Mr. Black’s grin widened just a little bit more as he raised his boot high up in the air, ready to crash down on Emerald’s broken body. His leg hung weightless in the air, before he drove it with all the power he had towards his former partner.

Emerald closed her eyes, and then she felt nothing at all.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked Chapter 1! I'm going to be sticking with this one for a while so be looking forward to new chapters pretty soon. The Game of Thrones style character-switching is really fun to write too so I'm probably going to be using it a lot. I also highly recommend you read the rest of Raven's favorite poem which you can find here: http://americanliterature.com/author/anna-akhmatova/poem/always-so-many-pleas-from-a-lover Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to writing more for this!


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